Milford Funds Ltd. Takes $39.38 Million Position in Ryanair Holdings PLC $RYAAY

Milford Funds Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 545,491 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,379,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of RYAAY. LVW Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ryanair by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. One Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,225 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ryanair by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Ryanair by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 18,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,310,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ryanair by 76.0% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 484 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Andreas Gruber sold 13,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total value of $350,276.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $542,516.58. This represents a 39.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Juliusz Grzegorz Komorek sold 14,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total transaction of $365,518.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 46,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,203,326.64. This trade represents a 23.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 111,607 shares of company stock valued at $2,918,397.

Ryanair Stock Performance

Shares of RYAAY stock opened at $60.33 on Friday. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a one year low of $53.14 and a one year high of $74.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 19th. The transportation company reported ($0.86) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.95) by $0.09. Ryanair had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 25.58%. The company had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RYAAY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.67.

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.