Teacher Retirement System of Texas Trims Stock Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 90.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,677 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 82,493 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in SkyWest were worth $758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SKYW. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 1,075.6% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 60,181 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,302,000 after acquiring an additional 55,062 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,322 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,007,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter valued at about $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Trading Up 0.9%

SKYW stock opened at $112.75 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $101.44 and its 200 day moving average is $99.20. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.61 and a 12-month high of $135.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.88.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The business had revenue of $948.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.13 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SKYW. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI upgraded SkyWest from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SkyWest has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $120.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SkyWest news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.75, for a total value of $1,763,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 131,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,612,311.25. This trade represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $1,515,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 119,416 shares in the company, valued at $12,063,404.32. This trade represents a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,994,520 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.