American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stock Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,390,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 97,108 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $139,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in SkyWest during the 4th quarter valued at $146,935,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 960,739 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $81,697,000 after buying an additional 6,542 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 709,355 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $71,028,000 after buying an additional 26,561 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 484,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $41,162,000 after buying an additional 143,661 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 357,510 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,396,000 after buying an additional 11,169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of SKYW stock opened at $91.12 on Monday. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.61 and a 1-year high of $135.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $103.29 and its 200 day moving average is $100.02. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Research analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total value of $1,537,842.85. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

SkyWest Company 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.