American Century Companies Inc. Has $131.57 Million Stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 8.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,505,919 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 115,619 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $131,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 94.1% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,023 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,083 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 83.0% during the 1st 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. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 17,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.26, for a total value of $2,010,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 102,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,111,716.16. The trade was a 14.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total value of $2,018,667.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,392,436.82. This represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 136,186 shares of company stock worth $15,201,258. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW opened at $116.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $107.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.04. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.09 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $979.95 million. SkyWest had a return on equity of 16.69% and a net margin of 10.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on SKYW shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $126.75.

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.