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

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during 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 shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 421,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

SkyWest Price Performance

SKYW stock traded down $1.56 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $86.81. The company had a trading volume of 610,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 370,910. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 2.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $104.93 and a 200 day moving average of $99.64. SkyWest has a fifty-two week low of $64.30 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $120.00) on shares of SkyWest in a report on Friday, January 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total transaction of $681,420.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total transaction of $1,537,842.85. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pitcairn Co. bought a new stake in SkyWest in the third quarter worth about $535,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in SkyWest by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 357,510 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,396,000 after acquiring an additional 11,169 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in SkyWest by 563.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,940 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,002,000 after acquiring an additional 129,901 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in SkyWest by 104.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 22,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,917,000 after acquiring an additional 11,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in SkyWest by 12.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,794 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $58,051,000 after acquiring an additional 76,007 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.