Gradient Investments LLC Buys 9,243 Shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC $RYAAY

Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) by 43.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,668 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,243 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Ryanair were worth $2,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Ryanair by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,465,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,250,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,457 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Ryanair by 9.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,626,911 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ryanair by 13.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,176,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $191,291,000 after purchasing an additional 376,145 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA boosted its holdings in Ryanair by 3.3% during the third quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 1,467,028 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $88,344,000 after purchasing an additional 47,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Ryanair by 43.1% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,423,685 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $82,104,000 after purchasing an additional 428,932 shares in the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ryanair Stock Performance

NASDAQ RYAAY opened at $59.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a 52-week low of $38.52 and a 52-week high of $74.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.97.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.08. Ryanair had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 29.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ryanair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th were paid a $0.4545 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. Ryanair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 25th. Evercore raised Ryanair from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Ryanair from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.67.

Ryanair 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.