SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Separately, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.50.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SKYW stock traded down $6.31 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $84.52. The company had a trading volume of 518,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,959. SkyWest has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $135.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 2.00.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that SkyWest will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. The trade was a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in SkyWest during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% 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.