Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) CMO Dara Brady Sells 8,973 Shares

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) CMO Dara Brady sold 8,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total value of $233,387.73. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 17,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,475.50. This trade represents a 33.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Ryanair Stock Performance

Ryanair stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $57.42. 1,660,166 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,520,157. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a 12-month low of $53.14 and a 12-month high of $74.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.67 and its 200-day moving average is $64.54.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.86) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. Ryanair had a return on equity of 25.58% and a net margin of 13.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 4.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on RYAAY shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Erste Group Bank lowered Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Evercore upgraded 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RYAAY. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Ryanair by 645,657.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,789,672 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $201,386,000 after buying an additional 2,789,240 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Ryanair by 9.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,626,911 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Ryanair by 6.6% during the 4th 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 raised its position in shares of Ryanair by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,895,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $281,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,429,666 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ryanair during the 4th quarter valued at $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.