SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) is Phocas Financial Corp.'s Largest Position

Key Points

• Phocas Financial Corp. reduced its stake in SkyWest, Inc. by 5.3%, owning approximately $15.15 million worth of shares at the end of the quarter.
• Insider selling occurred with Director James L. Welch and CFO Robert J. Simmons selling a combined total of 27,186 shares recently, marking significant decreases in their holdings.
• SkyWest's recent quarterly earnings surpassed estimates with an EPS of $2.91, and the company also declared a $250 million share repurchase plan indicating confidence in its undervaluation.

Phocas Financial Corp. decreased its holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 5.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,392 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 9,767 shares during the period. SkyWest makes up approximately 2.3% of Phocas Financial Corp.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Phocas Financial Corp. owned about 0.43% of SkyWest worth $15,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SKYW. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Bridge Generations Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $100,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 94.1% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SKYW shares. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $126.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SkyWest news, CAO Eric Woodward sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.67, for a total value of $816,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 47,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,577,992.70. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.91, for a total transaction of $1,715,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 449,242 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,333,010.22. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,186 shares of company stock worth $11,022,798 over the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SkyWest Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:SKYW traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $109.69. 298,412 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 412,495. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.63. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $135.57. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.98. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $105.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.97.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.57. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 16.69%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $979.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are 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.