Zacks Research Downgrades Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) to Hold

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

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings cut Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $71.00 target price on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.50.

Ryanair Price Performance

Ryanair stock opened at $67.58 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.20. The stock has a market cap of $35.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.23. Ryanair has a 12-month low of $38.52 and a 12-month high of $74.24.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its earnings results 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. Ryanair had a return on equity of 29.76% and a net margin of 15.04%.The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Equities analysts expect that Ryanair will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $201,386,000 after buying an additional 2,789,240 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Ryanair by 9.3% in the third 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 raised its stake in shares of Ryanair by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 39,929,929 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,884,834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,742 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Ryanair by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,895,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $281,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,429,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ryanair during the fourth quarter worth $91,970,000. 43.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.