Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 8,838 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Bridgewater Associates LP trimmed its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 57.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,663 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 8,838 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in SkyWest were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,500 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,953,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of SkyWest by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,495 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,145 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of SkyWest by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

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

SkyWest Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of SkyWest stock traded up $1.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $86.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 480,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 398,839. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.37 and a 200 day moving average of $100.78. SkyWest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.61 and a 12 month high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SKYW has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered SkyWest from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

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.