Alliancebernstein L.P. Decreases Stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,792 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,316 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.10% of SkyWest worth $4,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at $146,935,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of SkyWest by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,390,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $139,211,000 after acquiring an additional 97,108 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 960,739 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $81,697,000 after acquiring an additional 6,542 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 709,355 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $71,028,000 after acquiring an additional 26,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in SkyWest by 57.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 525,722 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $52,641,000 after purchasing an additional 192,543 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other SkyWest news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,882,359.19. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW opened at $86.31 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.83. SkyWest, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.61 and a twelve month high of $135.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $94.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

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.