SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Position Lowered by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,147 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 5,115 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.20% of SkyWest worth $7,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SKYW. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of SkyWest by 563.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,940 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $13,002,000 after acquiring an additional 129,901 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC increased its position in SkyWest by 39.1% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in SkyWest during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of SkyWest in the 3rd quarter valued at $648,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 216,574 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $18,413,000 after buying an additional 18,047 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other SkyWest news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total value of $1,537,842.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,267,563.01. This represents a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 175,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Stock Up 4.0 %

NASDAQ SKYW traded up $3.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $93.81. The company had a trading volume of 416,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 394,810. The firm's 50 day moving average is $88.30 and its 200 day moving average is $100.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.83. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

SKYW has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded SkyWest from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

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.