The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 68,635 Shares of Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) by 27.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 322,074 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,635 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.14% of Ryanair worth $37,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of RYAAY. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 44.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 4.1% in the second quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 3,796 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Ryanair by 25.8% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 912 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ryanair during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ryanair by 2.5% during the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,795 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RYAAY has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC lowered Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Ryanair from $149.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ryanair to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ryanair to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Ryanair from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ryanair currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.67.

Ryanair Stock Down 4.3 %

RYAAY stock opened at $112.68 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $105.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.34. Ryanair Holdings plc has a 12 month low of $87.18 and a 12 month high of $150.73. The company has a market cap of $24.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.55.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($1.20). The firm had revenue of $3.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.32 billion. Ryanair had a net margin of 12.07% and a return on equity of 20.43%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ryanair Holdings plc will post 7.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryanair Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a Variable dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.692 per share. This represents a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Ryanair’s payout ratio is 28.40%.

Ryanair Profile

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.