SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a decline of 17.2% from the March 15th total of 1,860,000 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 496,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

SkyWest Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SKYW opened at $83.45 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $90.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.89. SkyWest has a 12-month low of $64.61 and a 12-month high of $135.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 1.83.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that SkyWest will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SKYW. Raymond James lowered their price objective on 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 cut shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SkyWest news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available 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 shares were sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in SkyWest in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Company 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.