Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $318,000 Investment in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,172 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the 4th quarter worth about $146,935,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in SkyWest by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,390,300 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $139,211,000 after acquiring an additional 97,108 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in SkyWest by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 709,355 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $71,028,000 after acquiring an additional 26,561 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in SkyWest by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 543,009 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $54,371,000 after acquiring an additional 21,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 57.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 525,722 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $52,641,000 after buying an additional 192,543 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Stock Performance

SKYW traded down $0.73 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $97.92. The company had a trading volume of 162,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,720. The company has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $91.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.05. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. The company had revenue of $948.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

SkyWest 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.