Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 5.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,742 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in SkyWest by 8.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,505,919 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $131,572,000 after purchasing an additional 115,619 shares in the last quarter. SW Investment Management LLC raised its stake in SkyWest by 5.9% in the second quarter. SW Investment Management LLC now owns 900,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $92,673,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in SkyWest by 4.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 564,732 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,341,000 after purchasing an additional 21,723 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,474,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in SkyWest by 2.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 233,175 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $20,372,000 after purchasing an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of SkyWest from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of SkyWest from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SkyWest currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $126.75.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In related news, Director James L. Welch sold 10,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.09, for a total value of $1,160,900.00. Following the sale, the director owned 27,717 shares in the company, valued at $3,217,666.53. The trade was a 26.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 17,186 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.46, for a total transaction of $2,018,667.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 114,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,392,436.82. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 89,186 shares of company stock valued at $10,440,398. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SkyWest Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of SkyWest stock opened at $101.60 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $74.70 and a 52-week high of $135.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $108.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.33.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.57. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 16.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $979.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

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.