Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest fell 20.5% from March 31 to April 15, dropping to 1,729,227 shares (about 0.3% of shares outstanding) with a short-interest ratio of roughly 1.3 days, indicating relatively low shorting and limited days-to-cover.
• Ryanair beat Q results (EPS $0.26 vs $0.18 consensus; revenue $3.77B vs $3.16B), trades around $54.60 with a market cap of $28.5B and a PE near 11, and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $75.67.

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,729,227 shares, a drop of 20.5% from the March 31st total of 2,175,860 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,284,112 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Ryanair Price Performance

NASDAQ:RYAAY traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $54.60. 1,364,215 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,486,464. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.96, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.26. Ryanair has a 1-year low of $47.86 and a 1-year high of $74.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. Ryanair had a return on equity of 29.76% and a net margin of 15.04%. Research analysts expect that Ryanair will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on RYAAY shares. Erste Group Bank lowered Ryanair from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Ryanair from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ryanair from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, January 25th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ryanair from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $75.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ryanair

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 280.6% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 472 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 76.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 484 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 2,929.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 515 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 1,057.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 544 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 584 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.66% of the company's stock.

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.

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