Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ryanair to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ryanair to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Ryanair from $149.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays upgraded Ryanair from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.67.

Ryanair Price Performance

Ryanair stock opened at $44.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.55 billion, a PE ratio of 14.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $66.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.46. Ryanair has a one year low of $36.96 and a one year high of $60.29.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The transportation company reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.91 by ($0.09). Ryanair had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $5.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ryanair will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ryanair

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Ryanair by 826.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 621,773 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $72,399,000 after purchasing an additional 554,680 shares during the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC increased its stake in shares of Ryanair by 306.5% in the second quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 7,260 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $845,000 after buying an additional 5,474 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Ryanair by 27.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 322,074 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,502,000 after acquiring an additional 68,635 shares during the last quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ryanair by 13.2% in the second quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,168,162 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $368,901,000 after acquiring an additional 368,800 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Street Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in Ryanair by 154.4% in the third quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 3,755,750 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $169,685,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,250 shares during the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.