Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires New Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,958 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pitcairn Co. purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 3rd quarter valued at about $535,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,169 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 129,901 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 76,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In other news, 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 value of $1,537,842.85. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. The trade was a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 175,067 shares in the company, valued at $19,882,359.19. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SKYW opened at $91.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.61 and a 1-year high of $135.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 2.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.84.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Research analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James reissued 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.

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.