Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Ryanair gapped up — shares jumped from a $57.38 close to a $61.10 open and were last trading around $62.21 on meaningful volume, giving the company a market cap of about $32.5 billion.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with a $75.67 average target (1 Strong Buy, 7 Buy, 4 Hold); Evercore recently upgraded to "outperform" with an $80 target while Erste trimmed its rating to "hold".
• Earnings beat — Ryanair reported EPS of $0.26 vs. $0.18 expected and revenue of $3.77B vs. $3.16B, demonstrating strong profitability (ROE ~29.8%, net margin ~15.0%) and very low leverage (debt/equity 0.02).

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $57.38, but opened at $61.10. Ryanair shares last traded at $62.2140, with a volume of 176,977 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on RYAAY shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Evercore raised Ryanair from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Ryanair from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.67.

Ryanair Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LVW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in Ryanair by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 584 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ryanair by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,225 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Ryanair by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,043 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Ryanair by 41.7% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ryanair

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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