Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (RYAAY): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

How do we determine whether Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors.

Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. RYAAY was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with RYAAY holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare RYAAY to other stocks including Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO), Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ), and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) to get a better sense of its popularity.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the new action encompassing Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY).

What have hedge funds been doing with Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 11% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the most valuable position in Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY). Renaissance Technologies has a $261.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Michael Hintze of CQS Cayman LP, with a $51.8 million position; 4.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other professional money managers that hold long positions contain Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP and Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors.