SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $119.80.

A number of research firms have weighed in on SKYW. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $122.00 price objective on SkyWest in a research note on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of SkyWest from $122.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $112.00 to $101.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW opened at $95.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.63. SkyWest has a 52 week low of $82.14 and a 52 week high of $123.94.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The transportation company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $993.12 million. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 16.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that SkyWest will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 20,629 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.53, for a total transaction of $2,197,607.37. Following the sale, the insider owned 77,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,249,470.14. The trade was a 21.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,966,485 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $498,685,000 after purchasing an additional 152,863 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in SkyWest by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,508,655 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $251,895,000 after buying an additional 22,110 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in SkyWest by 3.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,612,098 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $162,209,000 after buying an additional 46,744 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in SkyWest by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,517,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,392,000 after buying an additional 8,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in SkyWest by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,184,956 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $118,981,000 after buying an additional 255,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

About SkyWest

SkyWest, Inc (NASDAQ: SKYW) is a regional airline holding company that provides air transportation services through its primary subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines. The company operates flights under capacity purchase agreements with major carriers such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. By specializing in regional connectivity, SkyWest links smaller communities to larger hubs using a fleet of regional jets and turboprop aircraft.

Headquartered in St. George, Utah, SkyWest oversees all aspects of its airline operations, including flight scheduling, crew training and aircraft maintenance.