First Trust Advisors LP Buys 93,317 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 125.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 167,518 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 93,317 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $15,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in SkyWest by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,184,956 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $118,981,000 after acquiring an additional 255,408 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 90.6% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 351,149 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,333,000 after acquiring an additional 166,926 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,966,485 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $498,685,000 after acquiring an additional 152,863 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,825,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 498,590 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $50,063,000 after purchasing an additional 99,387 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 50,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.21, for a total value of $5,717,105.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 346,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,192,169.90. This represents a 12.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Stock Down 1.3%

SKYW stock opened at $108.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.45. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.89 and a 1-year high of $123.94. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.69.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.16). SkyWest had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to buy up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SKYW. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SkyWest from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $126.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.40.

About SkyWest

SkyWest, Inc (NASDAQ: SKYW) is a regional airline holding company that provides air transportation services through its primary subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines. The company operates flights under capacity purchase agreements with major carriers such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. By specializing in regional connectivity, SkyWest links smaller communities to larger hubs using a fleet of regional jets and turboprop aircraft.

Headquartered in St. George, Utah, SkyWest oversees all aspects of its airline operations, including flight scheduling, crew training and aircraft maintenance.