SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the four analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.25.

SKYW has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded SkyWest from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. TheStreet upgraded SkyWest from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James raised their target price on SkyWest from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on SkyWest from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In related news, Director James L. Welch sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction of $133,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 56,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,740,790.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SKYW. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of SkyWest by 1,409.6% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 422,199 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $12,180,000 after buying an additional 394,231 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SkyWest by 282.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 519,711 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $21,163,000 after buying an additional 383,756 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of SkyWest by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,318,727 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $73,575,000 after buying an additional 370,107 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 187.5% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 484,357 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $13,974,000 after purchasing an additional 315,893 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 14.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,442,697 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $70,472,000 after purchasing an additional 306,987 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SKYW stock traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $69.13. The stock had a trading volume of 515,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 323,015. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $65.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. SkyWest has a one year low of $23.37 and a one year high of $71.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 79.46 and a beta of 1.95.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The transportation company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.31. SkyWest had a return on equity of 1.59% and a net margin of 1.17%. The company had revenue of $751.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $758.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.93) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

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.