SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Short Interest Update

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,730,000 shares, an increase of 24.5% from the February 13th total of 1,390,000 shares. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 421,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SkyWest news, 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 transaction of $681,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,882,359.19. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,267,563.01. This represents a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SkyWest

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in SkyWest during the third quarter worth about $31,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 157.1% during 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 shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of SKYW stock traded down $1.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $86.81. 610,199 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 370,910. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $104.93 and its 200-day moving average is $99.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 2.00. SkyWest has a 52 week low of $64.30 and a 52 week high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up from $120.00) on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

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.