Voloridge Investment Management LLC Sells 53,414 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 41.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,439 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 53,414 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.19% of SkyWest worth $7,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at about $146,935,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in SkyWest by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,390,300 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $139,211,000 after acquiring an additional 97,108 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in SkyWest by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 709,355 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $71,028,000 after acquiring an additional 26,561 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in SkyWest by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 543,009 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $54,371,000 after acquiring an additional 21,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in SkyWest by 57.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 525,722 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $52,641,000 after purchasing an additional 192,543 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ SKYW traded down $1.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $101.24. 65,803 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 435,999. The company has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 1.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.72. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.61 and a 12 month high of $135.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. The company had revenue of $948.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SKYW. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

Insider Activity

In other SkyWest news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 449,242 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,333,010.22. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About SkyWest

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.