Russell A. Childs Sells 17,000 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Stock

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.91, for a total transaction of $1,715,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 449,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,333,010.22. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

SkyWest Stock Down 0.5%

SKYW opened at $101.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $92.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.57. SkyWest, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.61 and a twelve month high of $135.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 1.88.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The firm had revenue of $948.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $946.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in SkyWest by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

About SkyWest

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.