Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Stock Holdings Lifted by Metropolis Capital Ltd

Metropolis Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,593,130 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 587,023 shares during the quarter. Ryanair accounts for approximately 7.0% of Metropolis Capital Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Metropolis Capital Ltd’s holdings in Ryanair were worth $200,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 188.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 27,263,436 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,231,762,000 after acquiring an additional 17,810,361 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Ryanair by 175.7% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 23,548,902 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,063,939,000 after purchasing an additional 15,008,023 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Ryanair by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,734,646 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $394,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,679 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Ryanair by 169.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,305,368 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $284,893,000 after purchasing an additional 3,967,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trinity Street Asset Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Ryanair by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 3,980,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $173,525,000 after purchasing an additional 225,098 shares during the period. 43.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RYAAY. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Ryanair from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ryanair currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.00.

Ryanair Stock Performance

Shares of RYAAY stock opened at $45.53 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $44.10 and its 200 day moving average is $71.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.50. Ryanair Holdings plc has a 12 month low of $36.96 and a 12 month high of $60.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The transportation company reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.91 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $5.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Ryanair had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 11.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ryanair Holdings plc will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Ryanair Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4677 per share. This represents a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Ryanair’s payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

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.