Short Interest in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Grows By 25.4%

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a growth of 25.4% from the October 31st total of 1,140,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 341,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SkyWest news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 19,079 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total transaction of $1,993,373.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 97,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,202,889.92. The trade was a 16.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Eric Woodward sold 4,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $446,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,954,831.78. The trade was a 8.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 92,467 shares of company stock worth $10,082,596. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SKYW. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 10,835 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,298 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,660 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,965 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 57.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 766 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $119.00 price target on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of SkyWest from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.75.

SkyWest Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW traded up $0.78 on Friday, reaching $114.74. 162,493 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 400,690. SkyWest has a fifty-two week low of $45.99 and a fifty-two week high of $117.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $98.54 and a 200 day moving average of $85.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.93.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.24. SkyWest had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 11.02%. The company had revenue of $912.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $896.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest will post 7.16 earnings per share 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.