Clearbridge Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 847,079 Ryanair Holdings PLC $RYAAY

Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 847,079 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,151,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.16% of Ryanair at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RYAAY. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Ryanair by 645,657.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,789,672 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $201,386,000 after buying an additional 2,789,240 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Ryanair by 9.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 30,738,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,851,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,911 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Ryanair by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 39,929,929 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,884,834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464,742 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ryanair in the fourth quarter worth $91,970,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ryanair by 658.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 992,245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,041,000 after purchasing an additional 861,361 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ryanair

In other Ryanair news, insider Jason Paul Mcguinness sold 9,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.56, for a total transaction of $275,572.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 14,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,245.80. The trade was a 41.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Dara Brady sold 8,973 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total value of $233,387.73. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 17,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $456,475.50. This represents a 33.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 111,607 shares of company stock valued at $2,918,397 in the last ninety days.

Ryanair Stock Performance

Shares of RYAAY opened at $56.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a one year low of $53.14 and a one year high of $74.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $58.25 and a 200 day moving average of $64.14.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 19th. The transportation company reported ($0.86) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.95) by $0.09. Ryanair had a return on equity of 25.58% and a net margin of 13.95%.The business had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RYAAY. Erste Group Bank cut Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings cut Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research cut Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.67.

About Ryanair

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.