Brokerages Set Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Price Target at $154.67

Shares of Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $154.67.

Several analysts recently weighed in on RYAAY shares. StockNews.com upgraded Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Ryanair from $149.00 to $147.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Ryanair from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Ryanair Price Performance

Ryanair stock opened at $44.73 on Tuesday. 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 has a market cap of $24.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.99. Ryanair has a 1 year low of $36.96 and a 1 year high of $60.29.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $5.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Ryanair had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 11.38%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ryanair will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Ryanair Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.4677 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Ryanair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Institutional Trading of Ryanair

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RYAAY. Gallacher Capital Management LLC increased 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 during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Ryanair by 0.8% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 25,237 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Ryanair by 87.5% in the 3rd quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 750 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Ryanair during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ryanair by 28.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

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.