Magnetar Financial LLC Buys Shares of 28,623 SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 28,623 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,880,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of SkyWest by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,165 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in SkyWest by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in SkyWest by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,827 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,235 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,133 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Trading Down 1.3%

SkyWest stock opened at $90.82 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $100.98 and its 200-day moving average is $102.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.65. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.70 and a 1 year high of $123.94. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.58.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The transportation company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $993.12 million. SkyWest had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 16.35%. SkyWest’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on SkyWest in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $122.00 target price on SkyWest in a report on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research lowered SkyWest from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on SkyWest from $132.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.83.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 20,629 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.53, for a total value of $2,197,607.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 77,438 shares in the company, valued at $8,249,470.14. The trade was a 21.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.