SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW Stock Holdings Lessened by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue reduced its holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,104 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 7,465 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SKYW. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the 2nd quarter valued at $682,530,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in SkyWest by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,529,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $232,260,000 after purchasing an additional 20,678 shares during the last quarter. Owl Creek Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in SkyWest by 2.6% in the first quarter. Owl Creek Asset Management L.P. now owns 326,332 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $29,967,000 after purchasing an additional 8,184 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in SkyWest in the second quarter worth $28,177,000. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. boosted its stake in SkyWest by 15.5% in the first quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 257,593 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $23,655,000 after purchasing an additional 34,587 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on SKYW shares. Citigroup increased their target price on SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $116.00 price target on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $123.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $126.00 to $115.00 in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.00.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SkyWest stock opened at $95.73 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.39. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.89 and a fifty-two week high of $117.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.47.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.58% and a net margin of 9.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 23rd that allows the company to buy back $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other news, CEO Russell Childs sold 50,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was 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 owned 346,190 shares in the company, valued at $39,192,169.90. The trade was a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Robert Simmons sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.49, for a total value of $2,762,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 93,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,375,231.98. This represents a 21.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 115,226 shares of company stock valued at $12,855,192 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Profile

SkyWest, Inc (NASDAQ: SKYW) is an airline holding company that operates regional passenger air service in the United States. Its primary subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines, connects smaller and midsized communities with larger airline hubs and provides scheduled flights under capacity-purchase agreements with major airline partners.

SkyWest Airlines operates flights under the United Express, Delta Connection and Alaska Airlines brands, serving destinations throughout the United States and select locations in Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.