SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Receives $126.75 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $126.75.

SKYW has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of SkyWest from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total transaction of $2,018,667.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 114,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,392,436.82. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.26, for a total transaction of $2,010,420.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 102,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,111,716.16. The trade was a 14.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 89,186 shares of company stock valued at $10,440,398. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SkyWest

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SKYW. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,474,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 9,644.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,111 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $13,290,000 after purchasing an additional 150,550 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the first quarter valued at approximately $12,839,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 243.9% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 176,573 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $15,427,000 after purchasing an additional 125,235 shares during the period. Finally, Bandera Partners LLC raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 138.1% in the first quarter. Bandera Partners LLC now owns 209,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $18,260,000 after purchasing an additional 121,240 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Stock Performance

SKYW stock opened at $99.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.59. SkyWest has a 52 week low of $74.70 and a 52 week high of $135.57.

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

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.