Jennison Associates LLC Takes $667,000 Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,633 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $667,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in SkyWest during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Bridge Generations Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $100,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $1,515,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 119,416 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,063,404.32. This represents a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,994,520 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

SkyWest Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ SKYW opened at $112.44 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $103.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.67. The company has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.88. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.61 and a 52 week high of $135.57. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 9.89%. The business had revenue of $948.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SKYW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.