SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW Stock Holdings Trimmed by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S reduced its holdings in SkyWest, Inc. by 95.2%, now owning only 961 shares after selling 19,031 shares in the first quarter.
• Several other investors, including Bandera Partners LLC and Algert Global LLC, significantly increased their stakes in SkyWest, with Algert Global raising its stake by 501.4%.
• SkyWest's latest earnings reported EPS of $2.91, exceeding analysts' estimates and reflecting a 19.4% year-over-year revenue growth.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lowered its holdings in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 95.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 961 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 19,031 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in SkyWest were worth $84,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bandera Partners LLC raised its stake in SkyWest by 138.1% during the 1st quarter. Bandera Partners LLC now owns 209,000 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $18,260,000 after acquiring an additional 121,240 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 501.4% in the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 109,528 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $9,569,000 after buying an additional 91,316 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,505,919 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $131,572,000 after buying an additional 115,619 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 1st quarter worth $12,839,000. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 12,908 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 114,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,392,436.82. The trade was a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James L. Welch sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.09, for a total value of $1,160,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 27,717 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,217,666.53. This represents a 26.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 138,186 shares of company stock worth $15,434,918. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented 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 research note on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen raised SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $126.75.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW opened at $119.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.11, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.98. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $109.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.84. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52-week low of $72.70 and a 52-week high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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