Ruffer LLP Buys Shares of 30,038 SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Ruffer LLP bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 30,038 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,021,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in SkyWest by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 144,978 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,628,000 after purchasing an additional 28,669 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in SkyWest by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,612,098 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $162,209,000 after purchasing an additional 46,744 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in SkyWest by 189.7% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 19,044 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 12,470 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in SkyWest by 217.8% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 36,837 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,707,000 after purchasing an additional 25,246 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in SkyWest by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 172,424 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,349,000 after purchasing an additional 15,793 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 20,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.53, for a total transaction of $2,197,607.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 77,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,249,470.14. This represents a 21.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

SkyWest Stock Down 1.6%

SKYW stock opened at $94.33 on Wednesday. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.98 and a 12 month high of $123.94. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The transportation company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.25 by ($0.04). SkyWest had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 16.35%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $993.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SKYW shares. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $122.00 target price on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of SkyWest from $112.00 to $101.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of SkyWest from $122.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.80.

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.