Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. Sells 1,033,700 Shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC $RYAAY

Key Points

• Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in Ryanair Holdings PLC by 12.2%, selling 1,033,700 shares and maintaining a total of 7,423,000 shares, which constitutes 27.0% of its investment portfolio.
• Ryanair reported a profit of $1.74 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.49 and achieving a revenue of $5.07 billion compared to expectations of $4.16 billion.
• The airline has announced an increase in its dividend to $0.534 per share, scheduled for payment on September 25th, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Free Report) by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,423,000 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 1,033,700 shares during the quarter. Ryanair makes up approximately 27.0% of Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. owned about 1.40% of Ryanair worth $314,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RYAAY. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Ryanair by 117.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 24,283 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,058,000 after acquiring an additional 13,108 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 152,194 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $6,634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,930 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ryanair in the fourth quarter worth $18,445,000. Mariner LLC lifted its position in Ryanair by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 12,856 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 5,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ryanair in the fourth quarter worth $1,174,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on RYAAY. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Ryanair from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Oddo Bhf raised Ryanair from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $76.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Ryanair in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.50.

Ryanair Price Performance

Shares of Ryanair stock traded up $0.40 on Tuesday, reaching $66.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,362,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,382,106. The company has a market capitalization of $35.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.36. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a 52-week low of $38.52 and a 52-week high of $67.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The transportation company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.25. Ryanair had a return on equity of 27.91% and a net margin of 14.42%.The firm had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.16 billion. Analysts expect that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ryanair Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a $0.534 dividend. This represents a yield of 120.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This is an increase from Ryanair's previous -- dividend of $0.47. Ryanair's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.55%.

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.