Clearbridge Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 847,079 Ryanair Holdings PLC $RYAAY

Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 847,079 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,151,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in RYAAY. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ryanair by 658.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 992,245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,041,000 after acquiring an additional 861,361 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ryanair by 122.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 7,152 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ryanair in the second quarter worth about $263,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ryanair by 99.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ryanair in the second quarter worth about $295,000. Institutional investors own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

Ryanair Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of RYAAY stock opened at $56.33 on Tuesday. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a 1 year low of $53.14 and a 1 year high of $74.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.14. The company has a market cap of $29.33 billion, a PE ratio of 11.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.15.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 19th. The transportation company reported ($0.86) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.09. Ryanair had a return on equity of 25.58% and a net margin of 13.95%.The business had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. Research analysts predict that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ryanair

In other Ryanair news, insider Jason Paul Mcguinness sold 9,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.56, for a total transaction of $275,572.44. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,305 shares in the company, valued at $394,245.80. This represents a 41.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Carol Marie Sharkey sold 6,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total value of $182,043.99. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 14,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $367,677.36. The trade was a 33.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,607 shares of company stock valued at $2,918,397.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RYAAY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore raised Ryanair from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings lowered Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.67.

Ryanair Company Profile

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.