AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 20,551 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in SkyWest, Inc. by 18.5%, owning 90,444 shares valued at approximately $7.9 million after selling 20,551 shares.
• Several institutional investors, including Stifel Financial Corp and Bank of America, have made notable changes to their positions, with 81.30% of SkyWest's stock owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• SkyWest's stock has gained 1.1% to open at $109.32, with recent earnings showing a substantial increase in revenue and earnings per share, beating analysts' estimates.

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 18.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,444 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 20,551 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.22% of SkyWest worth $7,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SKYW. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in SkyWest in the first quarter valued at $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in SkyWest in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in SkyWest by 83.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,274 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in SkyWest by 11.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in SkyWest by 32.4% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,935 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SKYW. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $126.75.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SKYW traded down $1.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $107.66. The stock had a trading volume of 401,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,576. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.11. SkyWest, Inc. has a one year low of $74.70 and a one year high of $135.57. The firm has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $979.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In related news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 26,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 404,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,990,720.98. The trade was a 6.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $13,392,436.82. The trade was a 13.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,186 shares of company stock worth $10,440,398 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.