BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 37,723 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 167.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,272 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 37,723 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.15% of SkyWest worth $6,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SKYW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of SKYW stock traded up $0.96 on Friday, hitting $102.67. 289,367 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 397,138. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.61 and a 52 week high of $135.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21 and a beta of 1.88.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $948.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.13 million. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. The business's revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total transaction of $1,537,842.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 68,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,267,563.01. This represents a 17.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.