Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 3,308 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD 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 30,139 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,308 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.07% of SkyWest worth $3,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SKYW. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,500 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in SkyWest by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,495 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in SkyWest by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,145 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in SkyWest by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

SkyWest Trading Down 0.5 %

SkyWest stock traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $99.54. 262,858 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 396,136. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $88.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81 and a beta of 1.88. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. The company 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 posted $1.45 earnings per share. SkyWest's revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.