Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) to Issue Special Dividend of $0.44

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) announced a special dividend on Friday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.4434 per share by the transportation company on Monday, September 28th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th.

Ryanair has a dividend payout ratio of 21.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ryanair to earn $4.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.7%.

Ryanair Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RYAAY opened at $60.19 on Wednesday. Ryanair has a 52-week low of $53.14 and a 52-week high of $74.24. The company has a market capitalization of $31.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.99.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The transportation company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.18). Ryanair had a return on equity of 21.23% and a net margin of 12.14%.The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ryanair will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ryanair

In other Ryanair news, insider Carol Marie Sharkey sold 6,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total value of $182,043.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 14,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $367,677.36. This represents a 33.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Jason Paul Mcguinness sold 9,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 14,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $394,245.80. This represents a 41.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 126,607 shares of company stock worth $3,386,997 over the last quarter.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Ryanair by 645,657.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,789,672 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $201,386,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789,240 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Ryanair by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 39,929,929 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,884,834,000 after acquiring an additional 2,464,742 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,895,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $281,182,000 after buying an additional 1,429,666 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ryanair in the fourth quarter valued at about $91,970,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,304,889 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $527,341,000 after purchasing an additional 985,939 shares during the period. 43.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.