SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Shares Purchased by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 415,296 shares of the transportation company's stock after acquiring an additional 57,547 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.03% of SkyWest worth $41,584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $146,935,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter valued at $23,851,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position 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 buying an additional 192,543 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 150,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of SkyWest by 563.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,940 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $13,002,000 after buying an additional 129,901 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of SkyWest stock traded down $0.73 on Friday, reaching $97.92. The company had a trading volume of 162,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 396,351. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $91.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.89. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $948.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.13 million. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. The company's revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, 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 initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SKYW. The Goldman Sachs Group raised SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen raised SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James lowered 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.

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.