Raymond James Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW)

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Raymond James in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $130.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $120.00. Raymond James’ target price indicates a potential upside of 6.39% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $119.00 price target on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SkyWest has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.75.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW traded up $5.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $122.19. 718,428 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 348,392. The company has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 1.98. SkyWest has a twelve month low of $52.78 and a twelve month high of $135.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.81.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a return on equity of 11.02% and a net margin of 7.29%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In related news, CAO Eric Woodward sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $446,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,426 shares in the company, valued at $4,954,831.78. The trade was a 8.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ronald J. Mittelstaedt sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.06, for a total transaction of $2,801,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,264,372.98. The trade was a 68.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 92,467 shares of company stock valued at $10,082,596. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pitcairn Co. bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the third quarter valued at approximately $535,000. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in SkyWest during the 3rd quarter valued at $539,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in SkyWest by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 357,510 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,396,000 after acquiring an additional 11,169 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in SkyWest by 563.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,940 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,002,000 after acquiring an additional 129,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 22,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,917,000 after acquiring an additional 11,494 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.