GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 180 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 11.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in SkyWest during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 117.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 832 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.91, for a total value of $1,715,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 449,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,333,010.22. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 15,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $1,515,300.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 119,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,063,404.32. This represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,000 shares of company stock worth $4,994,520 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SKYW. Evercore ISI raised SkyWest from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, SkyWest has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.50.

SkyWest Stock Performance

SKYW stock opened at $107.83 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $99.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.00. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.88.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $948.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $946.13 million. SkyWest had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 9.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

SkyWest 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.