Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $71.91 and last traded at $72.1360, with a volume of 443207 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research cut Ryanair from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

Ryanair Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $37.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The transportation company reported $3.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.14. Ryanair had a return on equity of 31.32% and a net margin of 16.29%.The company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.44 billion. Research analysts expect that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ryanair

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RYAAY. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new position in shares of Ryanair during the first quarter worth $118,071,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings 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 during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Ryanair by 2.7% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,465,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,250,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,457 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Ryanair by 658.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 992,245 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $42,041,000 after purchasing an additional 861,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,800,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $161,499,000 after acquiring an additional 539,256 shares during the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.