Empowered Funds LLC Lowers Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Empowered Funds LLC lessened its position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138,286 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 34,968 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned 0.34% of SkyWest worth $13,847,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in SkyWest by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 960,739 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $81,697,000 after purchasing an additional 6,542 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,794 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $58,051,000 after buying an additional 76,007 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 484,147 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $41,162,000 after buying an additional 143,661 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 357,510 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $30,396,000 after buying an additional 11,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of SkyWest by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 216,574 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $18,413,000 after buying an additional 18,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SKYW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $119.00 price target on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $130.00 price target (up previously from $120.00) on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

SkyWest Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of SkyWest stock traded up $0.66 on Wednesday, hitting $110.82. 363,545 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 392,280. SkyWest, Inc. has a one year low of $57.15 and a one year 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 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $109.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.97. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26 and a beta of 1.98.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 EPS 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 last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SkyWest news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.