Wade J. Steel Sells 17,000 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Stock

Key Points

• Wade J. Steel, an insider at SkyWest, Inc., sold 17,000 shares of the company's stock at an average price of $118.26, totaling approximately $2.01 million, resulting in a 14.24% decrease in his holdings.
• SkyWest reported earnings of $2.91 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $1.04 billion, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 19.4%.
• The company has initiated a $250 million share buyback program, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued, and currently holds a consensus rating of "Buy" from several analysts.

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) insider Wade J. Steel sold 17,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.26, for a total value of $2,010,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 102,416 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,111,716.16. The trade was a 14.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of SkyWest stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $109.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 78,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,942. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.97. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.61 and a 12-month high of $135.57. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.73.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $979.95 million. SkyWest had a return on equity of 16.69% and a net margin of 10.62%. The business's revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,474,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,851,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 57.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 525,722 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $52,641,000 after buying an additional 192,543 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of SkyWest by 1,999.6% during the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 158,248 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $15,845,000 after buying an additional 150,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in SkyWest by 9,644.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,111 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $13,290,000 after purchasing an additional 150,550 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SKYW. Wall Street Zen raised SkyWest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on SkyWest from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, SkyWest presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $126.75.

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.