SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW Holdings Trimmed by Trexquant Investment LP

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in SkyWest, Inc. by 52.7% during Q1, resulting in ownership of about 43,283 shares valued at approximately $3.78 million.
• Various institutional investors increased their holdings in SkyWest, with Allspring Global Investments boosting its position by 1,075.6%, owning now over 60,000 shares valued at $5.30 million.
• SkyWest's Board of Directors has initiated a $250 million stock buyback program, which typically indicates management's belief that the company's shares are undervalued.

Trexquant Investment LP reduced its holdings in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 52.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,283 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 48,320 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.11% of SkyWest worth $3,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SKYW. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,083 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 83.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,274 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SKYW shares. Wall Street Zen raised SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, SkyWest presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $126.75.

SkyWest Stock Performance

NASDAQ SKYW traded down $1.99 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $120.50. The company had a trading volume of 330,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 399,338. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.70 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.57. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.92.

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

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other news, CAO Eric Woodward sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.67, for a total transaction of $816,690.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,577,992.70. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total value of $2,018,667.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,017 shares in the company, valued at $13,392,436.82. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,186 shares of company stock valued at $10,440,398. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.