SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Short Interest Down 17.2% in March

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a drop of 17.2% from the March 15th total of 1,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 496,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 owns 175,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $7,267,563.01. The trade was a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,500 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,495 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $951,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in SkyWest by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,145 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $279,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 14,786 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,481,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SKYW shares. 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 research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered SkyWest from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

SkyWest Stock Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ SKYW traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $87.18. 128,196 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 396,152. The company's 50-day moving average is $89.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78. SkyWest has a one year low of $64.61 and a one year high of $135.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 1.83.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.38. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The business had revenue of $948.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.13 million. On average, analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.