Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $17.09 Million Stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 170,717 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 26,270 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.42% of SkyWest worth $17,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of SkyWest during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in SkyWest during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 157.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 117.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 832 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James reduced their target price on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total transaction of $1,537,842.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 68,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. This represents a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 175,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

SkyWest Stock Up 3.1 %

SkyWest stock opened at $90.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 2.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $100.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.71. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week high of $135.57. 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 (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its 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 return on equity of 14.17% and a net margin of 9.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

SkyWest 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.