Capital Fund Management S.A. Grows Position in SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Key Points

• Capital Fund Management S.A. increased its stake in SkyWest, Inc. by 232.4%, acquiring an additional 32,401 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to approximately 46,342 shares valued at $4,049,000.
• SkyWest reported quarterly earnings of $2.91 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.34, with a revenue of $1.04 billion, up 19.4% from the previous year.
• Institutional investors now own 81.3% of SkyWest's stock, highlighting significant interest from the investment community alongside recent share repurchase plans initiated by the company.

Capital Fund Management S.A. increased its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 232.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,342 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,401 shares during the quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. owned 0.11% of SkyWest worth $4,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SKYW. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 94.1% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,023 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,083 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 83.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,274 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SKYW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their target price on SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, SkyWest presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $126.75.

SkyWest Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of SKYW traded down $1.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $120.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 48,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 398,227. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.70 and a 12-month high of $135.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company's 50 day moving average is $111.51 and its 200 day moving average is $100.26.

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

SkyWest declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.06, for a total value of $3,017,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 404,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,990,720.98. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Eric Woodward sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.67, for a total value of $816,690.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 47,810 shares in the company, valued at $5,577,992.70. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 106,186 shares of company stock worth $12,204,148. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.