Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Short Interest Down 24.4% in February

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,491,428 shares, a decrease of 24.4% from the January 29th total of 1,973,398 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,382,966 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,382,966 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ryanair

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ryanair during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. SG Trading Solutions LLC bought a new position in Ryanair in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in Ryanair by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 27,708 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,000,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ryanair by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 96,337 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,955,000 after buying an additional 6,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ryanair in the 4th quarter valued at $235,000. Institutional investors own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RYAAY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 25th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.50.

Ryanair Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RYAAY traded down $2.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $65.30. 1,955,630 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,434,874. Ryanair has a twelve month low of $38.52 and a twelve month high of $74.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $34.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.23.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.08. Ryanair had a return on equity of 29.76% and a net margin of 15.04%.The business had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Ryanair will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ryanair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be paid a $0.4545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. Ryanair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.26%.

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.