SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. trimmed its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 4.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 179,991 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 8,854 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.44% of SkyWest worth $15,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,234 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 201.1% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 15,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 10,505 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in SkyWest by 57.6% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 29,680 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,593,000 after purchasing an additional 10,849 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in SkyWest by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 40,153 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,508,000 after purchasing an additional 3,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in SkyWest by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,935 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Stock Down 5.9%

Shares of SKYW opened at $109.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.10. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.61 and a 52 week high of $135.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.88.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.57. SkyWest had a return on equity of 16.69% and a net margin of 10.62%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $979.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. SkyWest’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SKYW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $126.75.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 17,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.26, for a total transaction of $2,010,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 102,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,111,716.16. This trade represents a 14.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James L. Welch sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.25, for a total transaction of $1,182,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 37,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,460,035.25. This trade represents a 20.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 100,186 shares of company stock valued at $11,022,798. Corporate insiders own 2.00% 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.