SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) CAO Eric Woodward Sells 7,000 Shares

Key Points

• Eric Woodward, the Chief Accounting Officer of SkyWest, Inc., sold 7,000 shares at an average price of $116.67, totaling approximately $816,690, resulting in a 12.77% decrease in his ownership stake.
• SkyWest reported a Q2 EPS of $2.91, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.34, alongside a 19.4% year-over-year revenue increase to $1.04 billion.
• The company’s Board of Directors has approved a $250 million share repurchase plan, indicating confidence in the stock's value and allowing for the buyback of up to 6.4% of its shares.

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) CAO Eric Woodward sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.67, for a total transaction of $816,690.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,810 shares in the company, valued at $5,577,992.70. The trade was a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

SkyWest Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of SKYW traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $109.01. The stock had a trading volume of 78,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,942. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.97. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.57. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 16.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $979.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of SkyWest

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SKYW. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the first quarter worth $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the first quarter worth $32,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in SkyWest by 38.4% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 551 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SKYW. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $126.75.

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.