SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Shares Up 6% on Strong Earnings

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)’s stock price shot up 6% during mid-day trading on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $78.79 and last traded at $77.50. 101,278 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 475,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.14.

The transportation company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $804.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $800.07 million. SkyWest had a net margin of 1.17% and a return on equity of 1.59%. The company’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.45) earnings per share.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on SKYW. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised shares of SkyWest from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of SkyWest from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, Director James L. Welch sold 2,000 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction of $133,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 56,067 shares in the company, valued at $3,740,790.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SkyWest

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SKYW. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SkyWest Trading Up 6.9 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.84 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $66.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.77.

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.