Brokerages Set SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Price Target at $126.75

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.75.

Several research analysts have weighed in on SKYW shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of SkyWest from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded SkyWest from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, VP Greg Wooley sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.83, for a total transaction of $233,660.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 66,737 shares in the company, valued at $7,796,883.71. This represents a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.06, for a total transaction of $3,017,560.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 404,883 shares in the company, valued at $46,990,720.98. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,000 shares of company stock worth $4,412,120. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,474,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the first quarter worth $12,839,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 243.9% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 176,573 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $15,427,000 after acquiring an additional 125,235 shares during the period. Bandera Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 138.1% in the first quarter. Bandera Partners LLC now owns 209,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $18,260,000 after acquiring an additional 121,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in SkyWest by 8.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,505,919 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $131,572,000 after purchasing an additional 115,619 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Price Performance

NASDAQ:SKYW opened at $95.12 on Tuesday. SkyWest has a 52 week low of $74.70 and a 52 week high of $135.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The transportation company reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. SkyWest had a return on equity of 16.69% and a net margin of 10.62%.The company’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. Equities analysts expect that SkyWest will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

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.