Insider Selling: SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Insider Sells $2,451,680.00 in Stock

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) insider Wade Steel sold 22,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total transaction of $2,451,680.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,438 shares in the company, valued at $6,178,010.72. This represents a 28.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW opened at $111.84 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $97.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.46. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.89 and a 1 year high of $123.94.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.16). SkyWest had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 10.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SKYW. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $126.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on SkyWest from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded SkyWest from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SkyWest currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SkyWest

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the second quarter valued at $682,530,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest in the 2nd quarter worth $28,177,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,184,956 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $118,981,000 after buying an additional 255,408 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 90.6% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 351,149 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,333,000 after buying an additional 166,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,966,485 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $498,685,000 after buying an additional 152,863 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SkyWest Company Profile

SkyWest, Inc (NASDAQ: SKYW) is a regional airline holding company that provides air transportation services through its primary subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines. The company operates flights under capacity purchase agreements with major carriers such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. By specializing in regional connectivity, SkyWest links smaller communities to larger hubs using a fleet of regional jets and turboprop aircraft.

Headquartered in St. George, Utah, SkyWest oversees all aspects of its airline operations, including flight scheduling, crew training and aircraft maintenance.