Brokerages Set Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Target Price at $76.00

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.00.

Several research analysts recently commented on RYAAY shares. Zacks Research cut Ryanair from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Wednesday.

Ryanair Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RYAAY opened at $60.35 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.70. Ryanair has a 52 week low of $38.52 and a 52 week high of $67.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.38.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The transportation company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.25. Ryanair had a return on equity of 27.91% and a net margin of 14.42%.The firm had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.16 billion. Analysts predict that Ryanair will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryanair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.534 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This is a positive change from Ryanair’s previous special dividend of $0.47. Ryanair’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

Institutional Trading of Ryanair

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its position in shares of Ryanair by 19.4% in the third quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 9,484 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Ryanair during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Ryanair during the third quarter worth approximately $330,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Ryanair during the third quarter worth approximately $424,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Ryanair by 54.6% during the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 21,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 7,566 shares during the period. 43.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ryanair

Ryanair Holdings plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled-passenger airline services in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and internationally. It is also involved in the provision of various ancillary services, such as non-flight scheduled and Internet-related services, as well as in-flight sale of beverages, food, duty-free, and merchandise; and markets car hire, travel insurance, and accommodation services through its website and mobile app.