Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on RYAAY. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ryanair has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $73.50.

Ryanair Stock Performance

RYAAY stock opened at $68.70 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Ryanair has a 12-month low of $38.52 and a 12-month high of $74.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.36. The firm has a market cap of $36.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.25.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. Ryanair had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 29.76%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ryanair will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ryanair

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Ryanair by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 30,738,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,851,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,911 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Ryanair by 2.7% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,465,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,250,932,000 after buying an additional 1,002,457 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 658.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 992,245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,041,000 after buying an additional 861,361 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ryanair by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,800,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $161,499,000 after buying an additional 539,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ryanair by 315.0% in the 3rd quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 655,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $39,445,000 after acquiring an additional 497,174 shares during the period. 43.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ryanair

Ryanair Holdings plc is an Irish low-cost airline group headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1984, the company grew into one of Europe’s largest budget carriers by offering point-to-point scheduled passenger services with an emphasis on low fares, high aircraft utilization and rapid turnaround times. Ryanair serves a broad network across Europe and nearby regions, focusing on both intra-European leisure travel and short-haul business routes.

The group primarily operates a single-type fleet based on the Boeing 737 family, supplemented by a mix of in-house and subsidiary airlines that help serve different markets and regulatory environments.