SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Stock Gets Downgrade from Zacks Research

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SkyWest from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $116.00 price objective on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of SkyWest from $123.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SkyWest presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.40.

SkyWest Stock Up 6.1%

Shares of SkyWest stock opened at $82.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.58. SkyWest has a 52-week low of $77.68 and a 52-week high of $117.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $95.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.87.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.07 by $0.01. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 14.52%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 10.25 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 23rd that allows the company to buy back $250 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Share buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of SkyWest

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in SkyWest during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $682,530,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 0.8% during the 1st 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 period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 495,927 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $48,447,000 after acquiring an additional 138,155 shares in the last quarter. Owl Creek Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Owl Creek Asset Management L.P. now owns 326,332 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $29,967,000 after acquiring an additional 8,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Company 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.