Navellier & Associates Inc. Lowers Holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Key Points

• Navellier & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in SkyWest, Inc. by 10.5%, selling 6,850 shares, and now holds approximately 0.14% of the company valued at $5.5 million.
• SkyWest's stock rose by 1.0% to $112.30, with the transportation company reporting strong earnings, achieving $2.91 EPS which exceeded expectations significantly.
• A share repurchase program of up to $250 million has been authorized by SkyWest, reflecting management's belief that its stock is currently undervalued.

Navellier & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,488 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 6,850 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of SkyWest worth $5,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SKYW. 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of SkyWest from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $120.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $124.25.

SkyWest Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ SKYW traded up $1.13 on Friday, hitting $112.30. The stock had a trading volume of 993,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 369,550. The business's fifty day moving average price is $103.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.66. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.61 and a 52-week high of $135.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.88.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.57. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 17.01%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $979.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 131,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,612,311.25. The trade was a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $1,515,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 119,416 shares in the company, valued at $12,063,404.32. This trade represents a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 49,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,994,520. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.