Gallacher Capital Management LLC Takes Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,467 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SKYW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at about $23,851,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 57.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 525,722 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $52,641,000 after buying an additional 192,543 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 1,999.6% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 158,248 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $15,845,000 after buying an additional 150,711 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 9,644.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,111 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $13,290,000 after buying an additional 150,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 399,324 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $39,984,000 after buying an additional 128,524 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SKYW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI raised shares of SkyWest from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $120.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.91, for a total value of $1,715,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.75, for a total transaction of $1,763,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 131,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,612,311.25. This trade represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 49,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,994,520. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Stock Performance

NASDAQ SKYW traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $111.83. 252,255 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 405,630. The company has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.88. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.61 and a 12-month high of $135.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $103.79 and a 200 day moving average of $99.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.57. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $979.95 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.