First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases New Shares in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,836 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in SkyWest during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in SkyWest by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on SKYW. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th.

SkyWest Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:SKYW traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $98.96. The stock had a trading volume of 195,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,316. The company's 50 day moving average is $94.73 and its 200-day moving average is $100.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.90. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.61 and a 12-month high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $948.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $946.13 million. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the transportation company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In related news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.91, for a total transaction of $1,715,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 449,242 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,333,010.22. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total value of $1,515,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,416 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,063,404.32. This represents a 11.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,000 shares of company stock worth $4,994,520 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.