Royce & Associates LP Increases Stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 31.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,423 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 4,852 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.05% of SkyWest worth $2,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,098 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 5,224 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in SkyWest by 60.7% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 12,766 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after buying an additional 4,824 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in SkyWest by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,270 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth about $146,935,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ SKYW opened at $90.39 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $103.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.58. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.61 and a 12 month 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 has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 2.00.

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, topping 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $120.00) on shares of SkyWest in a report on Friday, January 31st.

SkyWest 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.