SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $117.51 and last traded at $115.92, with a volume of 25447 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $115.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SKYW has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James boosted their target price on SkyWest from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $119.00 price target on shares of SkyWest in a report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, SkyWest currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.75.

SkyWest Trading Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48 and a beta of 1.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $97.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.24. SkyWest had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 11.02%. The business had revenue of $912.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $896.21 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 16,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total transaction of $1,731,254.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 113,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,923,865.78. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 19,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total transaction of $1,993,373.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 97,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,202,889.92. This trade represents a 16.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 92,467 shares of company stock worth $10,082,596 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the third quarter worth about $648,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $233,000. Invst LLC lifted its position in SkyWest by 39.1% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest in the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.