Northern Trust Corp Boosts Holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 472,763 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 51,607 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.17% of SkyWest worth $47,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SKYW. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in SkyWest in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in SkyWest by 157.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now owns 68,737 shares in the company, valued at $7,267,563.01. This represents a 17.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SkyWest Price Performance

SKYW stock traded up $2.42 during trading on Monday, reaching $101.96. 379,648 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 396,070. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 1.88. SkyWest, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.61 and a twelve month 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The firm had revenue of $948.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $946.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SKYW shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

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.