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 reduced its holdings in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 18.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,444 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 20,551 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.22% of SkyWest worth $7,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in SkyWest by 1,075.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 60,181 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $5,302,000 after purchasing an additional 55,062 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,322 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth about $1,007,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter worth about $209,000. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 17,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.26, for a total transaction of $2,010,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 102,416 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,111,716.16. This represents a 14.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of the company's 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. This represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 89,186 shares of company stock worth $10,440,398. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SkyWest Stock Performance

NASDAQ SKYW traded down $0.50 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $103.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 352,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 381,300. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.92. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $74.70 and a 12 month high of $135.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $114.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.19.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.