SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Short Interest Up 24.5% in February

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

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SKYW opened at $86.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 2.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.71. SkyWest has a 52 week low of $64.30 and a 52 week high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SkyWest will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 175,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,882,359.19. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total value of $1,537,842.85. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SkyWest

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SKYW. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in SkyWest by 157.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in SkyWest in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

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.