SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Separately, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday.

SkyWest Price Performance

NASDAQ:SKYW opened at $80.23 on Thursday. SkyWest has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $135.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $98.92 and a 200 day moving average of $100.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33 and a beta of 2.00.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that SkyWest will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total transaction of $1,537,842.85. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,882,359.19. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in SkyWest by 83.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,274 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,136 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,574,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the 4th quarter valued at about $318,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in SkyWest by 297.1% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 18,831 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,089 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Company Profile

SkyWest, Inc is the holding company for two scheduled passenger airline operations and an aircraft leasing company. SkyWest’s airline companies provide commercial air service in cities throughout North America with nearly 3,000 daily flights carrying more than 53 million passengers annually. SkyWest Airlines operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.