Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 44,400 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Renaissance Technologies LLC decreased its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 316,556 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 44,400 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $29,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in SkyWest by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 148,225 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,883,000 after purchasing an additional 12,635 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP acquired a new position in SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,021,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in SkyWest by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 176,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $17,900,000 after buying an additional 31,904 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in SkyWest by 261.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 76,229 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,654,000 after buying an additional 55,162 shares during the period. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. raised its stake in SkyWest by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 223,006 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $22,392,000 after buying an additional 8,594 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SkyWest Stock Up 3.1%

SKYW opened at $113.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $93.30 and a 200-day moving average of $94.56. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.45. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.89 and a fifty-two week high of $123.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.16). SkyWest had a return on equity of 14.58% and a net margin of 9.78%.The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. SkyWest’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to purchase up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SKYW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on SkyWest from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of SkyWest from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $126.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.40.

SkyWest Company 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.