SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on SkyWest, with a $121 average 12-month price target. Ratings include four holds, one buy and one strong buy, though Goldman Sachs recently downgraded the stock to neutral.
• SkyWest reported quarterly EPS of $2.54, below the $2.70 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 6.5% year over year to $1.10 billion. Shares opened at $95.65, below the average analyst price target.
• The board authorized a $250 million share-repurchase program, equivalent to up to 6.6% of outstanding shares, while company insiders sold about $12.9 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $121.00.

SKYW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered SkyWest from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $115.00 in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on SkyWest from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of SkyWest from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th.

SkyWest Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of SkyWest stock opened at $95.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.42. SkyWest has a 1 year low of $77.89 and a 1 year high of $117.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $102.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.67.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.11 billion. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The company's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that SkyWest will post 10.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to buy up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, CEO Russell Childs sold 50,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.21, for a total transaction of $5,717,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 346,190 shares in the company, valued at $39,192,169.90. This trade represents a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Robert Simmons sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 93,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,375,231.98. This represents a 21.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 115,226 shares of company stock worth $12,855,192. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 2nd quarter valued at $57,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,826 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $7,830,000 after purchasing an additional 6,836 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new position in SkyWest during the 2nd quarter valued at about $112,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 10,017 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in SkyWest in the second quarter valued at about $1,738,000. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SkyWest Company Profile

SkyWest, Inc is a regional airline holding company headquartered in St. George, Utah. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides scheduled passenger air service for major U.S. airline partners, connecting smaller communities with larger hub airports.

SkyWest Airlines operates flights under capacity purchase agreements with Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. Its fleet primarily consists of regional aircraft, including Embraer E175 and Bombardier CRJ models, and serves destinations throughout the United States as well as selected locations in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

SkyWest also operates SkyWest Charter, which provides public charter air transportation.

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