Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 0.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,818,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,608 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.95% of SkyWest worth $482,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 157.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in SkyWest by 117.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 832 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in SkyWest by 193.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 863 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SkyWest Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of SKYW stock opened at $88.10 on Wednesday. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $135.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $100.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.78. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 175,067 shares in the company, valued at $19,882,359.19. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total value of $1,537,842.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target (up from $120.00) on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

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.