SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $119.36 and last traded at $117.15, with a volume of 136873 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $114.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SKYW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $119.00 price target on shares of SkyWest in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.25.

SkyWest Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.81.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 11.02%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 7.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, CAO Eric Woodward sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total value of $446,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,426 shares in the company, valued at $4,954,831.78. This represents a 8.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 19,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total transaction of $1,993,373.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 97,654 shares in the company, valued at $10,202,889.92. The trade was a 16.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 92,467 shares of company stock worth $10,082,596 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 0.9% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 10,835 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in SkyWest by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in SkyWest by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in SkyWest by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,965 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,803,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

About SkyWest

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.