Alliancebernstein L.P. Cuts Stock Holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,792 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 3,316 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.10% of SkyWest worth $4,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest in the fourth quarter valued at about $417,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 48,217 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $4,828,000 after acquiring an additional 10,985 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $170,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in SkyWest by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 525,722 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $52,641,000 after purchasing an additional 192,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in SkyWest during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SKYW stock traded down $0.33 on Friday, hitting $85.38. The company had a trading volume of 300,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 399,745. SkyWest, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.61 and a twelve month high of $135.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.67.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SKYW shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SkyWest from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Insider Activity at SkyWest

In other news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total transaction of $681,420.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total value of $1,537,842.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,267,563.01. The trade was a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.