Hsbc Holdings PLC Makes New $2.25 Million Investment in SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 22,581 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,252,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SKYW. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest in the second quarter worth about $682,530,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in SkyWest by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,966,485 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $498,685,000 after acquiring an additional 152,863 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in SkyWest by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,529,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $232,260,000 after acquiring an additional 20,678 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in SkyWest by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,517,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,392,000 after acquiring an additional 8,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 worth $118,981,000 after purchasing an additional 255,408 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SKYW. The Goldman Sachs Group cut SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $126.00 to $115.00 in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised SkyWest from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on SkyWest from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SkyWest presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.00.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of SKYW opened at $98.87 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.46. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.89 and a 1-year high of $123.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.58% and a net margin of 9.78%.The business’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 10.64 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the transportation company to repurchase up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 22,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total value of $2,451,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 55,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,178,010.72. The trade was a 28.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 25,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.49, for a total value of $2,762,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 93,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,375,231.98. The trade was a 21.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 115,226 shares of company stock valued at $12,855,192 over the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.