Wade J. Steel Sells 15,000 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Stock

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) insider Wade J. Steel sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.02, for a total transaction of $1,515,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,416 shares in the company, valued at $12,063,404.32. This represents a 11.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

SkyWest Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ SKYW traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $101.80. The stock had a trading volume of 352,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,103. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $135.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $92.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.57. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $948.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.13 million. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the transportation company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the first quarter valued at $32,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in SkyWest by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

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.