SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Downgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong Sell”

Zacks Research cut shares of SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Zacks reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on SKYW. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SkyWest from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $116.00 price objective on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of SkyWest from $123.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.40.

SkyWest Stock Performance

SKYW opened at $82.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 7.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $95.17 and a 200-day moving average of $95.87. SkyWest has a 52-week low of $77.68 and a 52-week high of $117.72.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by $0.01. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.52% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 10.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $250 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of SkyWest

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of SkyWest during the second quarter valued at about $1,738,000. Summit Global Investments acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the second quarter worth about $1,172,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the second quarter worth about $1,127,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the second quarter worth about $24,254,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in SkyWest by 9.5% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,826 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,830,000 after acquiring an additional 6,836 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Company Profile

SkyWest, Inc (NASDAQ: SKYW) is an airline holding company that operates regional passenger air service in the United States. Its primary subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines, connects smaller and midsized communities with larger airline hubs and provides scheduled flights under capacity-purchase agreements with major airline partners.

SkyWest Airlines operates flights under the United Express, Delta Connection and Alaska Airlines brands, serving destinations throughout the United States and select locations in Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.