Vontobel Holding Ltd. Takes $209,000 Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,387 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SKYW. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 1,075.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 5.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,322 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 11.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the first quarter worth approximately $1,007,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth approximately $23,851,000. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 17,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.91, for a total value of $1,715,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 449,242 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,333,010.22. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.75, for a total transaction of $1,763,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 131,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,612,311.25. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,994,520 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SKYW. Evercore ISI raised shares of SkyWest from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $120.50.

SkyWest Stock Up 6.9%

SKYW traded up $7.35 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $114.21. 165,456 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 381,228. The company has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.88. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $100.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.66. SkyWest, Inc. has a one year low of $64.61 and a one year high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The firm had revenue of $948.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SkyWest declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the transportation company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership 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.