Wall Street Zen Downgrades Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN) to Sell

Key Points

• Ryan Specialty has been dropped to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, following a downgrade from a "hold" rating.
• Wells Fargo cut its price target for Ryan Specialty from $65.00 to $63.00, while Goldman Sachs raised it from $74.00 to $81.00, indicating mixed analyst sentiments.
• The company reported a 25% year-over-year revenue increase, with quarterly earnings per share matching consensus estimates at $0.39.

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Ryan Specialty in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $89.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Ryan Specialty from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ryan Specialty from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ryan Specialty from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ryan Specialty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $76.00.

Ryan Specialty Stock Down 8.3%

NYSE:RYAN traded down $5.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $60.05. 2,106,244 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 993,800. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. Ryan Specialty has a fifty-two week low of $59.89 and a fifty-two week high of $77.16. The firm has a market cap of $15.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 176.61, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.66.

Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.39. Ryan Specialty had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 47.70%. The company had revenue of $690.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $680.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The company's revenue was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ryan Specialty will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Ryan Specialty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Ryan Specialty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.18%.

Insider Transactions at Ryan Specialty

In other Ryan Specialty news, EVP Mark Stephen Katz sold 14,377 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.84, for a total transaction of $946,581.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,117 shares in the company, valued at $73,543.28. This represents a 92.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David P. Bolger sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.80, for a total transaction of $354,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 71,467 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,059,863.60. This trade represents a 6.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 52.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of Ryan Specialty by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the company's stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ryan Specialty by 2.9% during the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 7,351 shares of the company's stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ryan Specialty by 281.6% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 332 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Ryan Specialty by 5.0% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 5,797 shares of the company's stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of Ryan Specialty by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 44,990 shares of the company's stock worth $2,887,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.82% of the company's stock.

Ryan Specialty Company Profile

Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc operates as a service provider of specialty products and solutions for insurance brokers, agents, and carriers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Singapore. It offers distribution, underwriting, product development, administration, and risk management services by acting as a wholesale broker and a managing underwriter.