SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Given New $125.00 Price Target at Raymond James

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) had its target price dropped by analysts at Raymond James from $130.00 to $125.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Raymond James’ target price points to a potential upside of 40.93% from the company’s previous close.

SkyWest Price Performance

SKYW stock traded up $0.60 on Wednesday, reaching $88.70. The company had a trading volume of 38,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,697. The company’s fifty day moving average is $100.69 and its 200 day moving average is $100.78. The company has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78. SkyWest has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total transaction of $681,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total transaction of $1,537,842.85. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,267,563.01. The trade was a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SkyWest

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in SkyWest by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 484,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $41,162,000 after buying an additional 143,661 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 104.0% during 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 during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the third quarter worth approximately $526,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in SkyWest during the third quarter worth approximately $158,000. Finally, Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in SkyWest during the third quarter worth approximately $759,000. 81.30% of the stock is currently 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.