Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) CEO Sells $548,290.80 in Stock

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) CEO Eddie Joseph Wilson sold 21,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total transaction of $548,290.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,447,001.26. This represents a 13.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Ryanair Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ RYAAY opened at $59.62 on Friday. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a 1-year low of $53.14 and a 1-year high of $74.24. The company has a market cap of $31.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.50.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.86) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ryanair

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Ryanair by 280.6% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 472 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ryanair by 76.0% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 484 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Ryanair by 1,057.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 544 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Ryanair by 2,929.4% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 515 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Ryanair by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 584 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Ryanair

Here are the key news stories impacting Ryanair this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple Ryanair insiders sold shares, but the company said the transactions were related to tax withholding on vested equity awards, suggesting the activity may be routine rather than a negative signal. CEO Andreas Gruber sale filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Ryanair also reported a mixed quarterly update: earnings per share beat estimates, but revenue came in below expectations, leaving investors with a balanced read on operating performance. Ryanair earnings and stock information
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain generally constructive on Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: RYAAY), with several firms reiterating bullish ratings and an overall “Moderate Buy” consensus, which may be supporting the stock. Analyst ratings overview

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on RYAAY shares. Evercore raised shares of Ryanair from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Ryanair from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.67.

Ryanair Company 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.