Martingale Asset Management L P Purchases 3,042 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Key Points

• Martingale Asset Management L P increased its stake in SkyWest, Inc. by 25.1%, acquiring an additional 3,042 shares to bring its total holdings to 15,163 shares valued at $1.325 million.
• Several institutional investors, including American Century Companies Inc. and Invesco Ltd., have also significantly increased their investments in SkyWest, collectively owning over 81% of the company's stock.
• SkyWest's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $2.91, exceeding estimates by $0.57, while the company plans a $250 million stock repurchase program, indicating confidence in its stock value.

Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 25.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,163 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 3,042 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P's holdings in SkyWest were worth $1,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SKYW. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in SkyWest during the first quarter worth $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in SkyWest during the first quarter worth $32,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on SKYW. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company 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 note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, SkyWest presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $126.75.

SkyWest Stock Performance

SKYW traded up $2.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $123.72. The company had a trading volume of 463,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,537. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.98. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.70 and a 12-month high of $135.57. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $110.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.04.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $979.95 million. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 16.69%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In related news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total transaction of $2,018,667.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,392,436.82. This represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 26,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.06, for a total transaction of $3,017,560.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 404,883 shares in the company, valued at $46,990,720.98. The trade was a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 121,186 shares of company stock worth $13,719,448 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.