SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Stock Position Trimmed by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. lessened its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 5.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 173,392 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 9,767 shares during the period. SkyWest makes up approximately 2.3% of Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Phocas Financial Corp. owned approximately 0.43% of SkyWest worth $15,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $190,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in SkyWest by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,640 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,669,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in SkyWest by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 379,563 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $38,006,000 after purchasing an additional 22,053 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $23,851,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James L. Welch sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.25, for a total value of $1,182,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 37,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,460,035.25. This represents a 20.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total value of $2,018,667.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,392,436.82. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,186 shares of company stock worth $11,022,798. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on SKYW. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price target on SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $126.75.

SkyWest Stock Down 5.9%

SkyWest stock opened at $109.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.98. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.61 and a 12 month high of $135.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

SkyWest declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.