Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (RYAAY): Insiders and Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About It

Is Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) a good investment?

To the average investor, there are many gauges shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as necessary, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the financial markets. There are lots of incentives for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, let’s study the latest info surrounding Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY).

What does the smart money think about Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY), worth close to $141.1 million, comprising 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies’s heels is Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz, which held a $74.7 million position; the fund has 0.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Michael Hintze’s CQS Cayman LP, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management and Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Since Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) has witnessed a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, we can see that there exists a select few funds who sold off their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. At the top of the heap, Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments said goodbye to the largest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, valued at an estimated $6.8 million in stock. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also cut its stock, about $3 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY). These stocks are JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU), Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK), Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA), Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV), and LATAM Airlines Group SA (ADR) (NYSE:LFL). This group of stocks are the members of the regional airlines industry and their market caps are closest to RYAAY’s market cap.