SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $117.00.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SKYW shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $106.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $122.00 price objective on shares of SkyWest in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $101.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SKYW stock opened at $81.25 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $90.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.62. SkyWest has a one year low of $80.00 and a one year high of $123.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.48.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.35. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $993.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SkyWest will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 20,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.53, for a total value of $2,197,607.37. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,249,470.14. This represents a 21.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 152,863 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,529,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $232,260,000 after buying an additional 20,678 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,612,098 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $162,209,000 after buying an additional 46,744 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,517,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $152,392,000 after buying an additional 8,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,184,956 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $118,981,000 after buying an additional 255,408 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SkyWest Company Profile

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.