Scotia Capital Inc. Invests $942,000 in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Scotia Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 9,405 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $942,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in SkyWest by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 357,510 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $30,396,000 after purchasing an additional 11,169 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in SkyWest by 563.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,940 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $13,002,000 after acquiring an additional 129,901 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in SkyWest during the 4th quarter valued at about $242,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in SkyWest in the 3rd quarter valued at about $648,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in SkyWest by 193.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 863 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction of $681,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now 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. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

SkyWest Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SKYW traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $85.38. The stock had a trading volume of 300,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 399,745. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $135.57. The firm's 50 day moving average is $91.39 and its 200-day moving average is $100.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last posted 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Research analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SKYW has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of SkyWest from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of SkyWest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

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.