Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Acquires New Holdings in SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 44,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,463,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the second quarter valued at about $682,530,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the second quarter worth about $28,177,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,184,956 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $118,981,000 after purchasing an additional 255,408 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 2nd quarter worth about $24,254,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in SkyWest by 90.6% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 351,149 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,333,000 after purchasing an additional 166,926 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 25,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.49, for a total transaction of $2,762,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 93,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,375,231.98. This trade represents a 21.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Wade J. Steel sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.44, for a total value of $2,451,680.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 55,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,178,010.72. This represents a 28.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 115,226 shares of company stock worth $12,855,192. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Stock Down 4.3%

Shares of SKYW opened at $94.66 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.57. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.89 and a 52 week high of $123.67.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.16). SkyWest had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current year.

SkyWest declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the transportation company to purchase up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SKYW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on SkyWest from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $126.00 to $115.00 in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised SkyWest from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SkyWest has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.00.

SkyWest Profile

SkyWest, Inc (NASDAQ: SKYW) is a regional airline holding company that provides air transportation services through its primary subsidiary, SkyWest Airlines. The company operates flights under capacity purchase agreements with major carriers such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. By specializing in regional connectivity, SkyWest links smaller communities to larger hubs using a fleet of regional jets and turboprop aircraft.

Headquartered in St. George, Utah, SkyWest oversees all aspects of its airline operations, including flight scheduling, crew training and aircraft maintenance.