Short Interest in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) Drops By 17.2%

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a decline of 17.2% from the March 15th total of 1,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 496,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SkyWest

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SKYW. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 563.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,940 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $13,002,000 after purchasing an additional 129,901 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 6,542 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 39.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 1,520 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in SkyWest in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company's stock.

SkyWest Trading Up 1.6 %

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

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, 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. On average, research analysts predict that SkyWest will post 9.01 EPS 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.