SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW Shares Purchased by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,826 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 6,836 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $7,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 2nd quarter worth about $682,530,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of SkyWest by 0.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,529,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $232,260,000 after acquiring an additional 20,678 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in SkyWest by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,517,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,392,000 after purchasing an additional 8,117 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in SkyWest by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,184,956 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $118,981,000 after purchasing an additional 255,408 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in SkyWest by 7,138.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,177,259 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160,996 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Stock Down 0.3%

SKYW opened at $95.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $102.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.00. The company has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.42. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.89 and a 1 year high of $117.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the transportation company to buy up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In related news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 50,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.21, for a total transaction of $5,717,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 346,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,192,169.90. This represents a 12.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total value of $2,451,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 55,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,178,010.72. This represents a 28.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 115,226 shares of company stock worth $12,855,192. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SKYW shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of SkyWest from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded 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 report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised SkyWest from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SkyWest currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.00.

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.