Quest Partners LLC Reduces Stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Quest Partners LLC trimmed its stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Free Report) by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,874 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 4,609 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in SkyWest were worth $584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SKYW. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in SkyWest by 1,368.0% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 367 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in SkyWest during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in SkyWest during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 57.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 766 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of SkyWest by 45.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SKYW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $119.00 target price on shares of SkyWest in a report on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of SkyWest from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.75.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 16,485 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total value of $1,731,254.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 113,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,923,865.78. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Eric Woodward sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total value of $446,120.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,426 shares in the company, valued at $4,954,831.78. The trade was a 8.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 92,467 shares of company stock valued at $10,082,596. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of SkyWest stock traded up $2.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $111.90. 256,016 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 385,885. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.42 and a 52-week high of $116.47. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $95.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.74. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.24. SkyWest had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 11.02%. The business had revenue of $912.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $896.21 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 19.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.