Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $2.70 Million in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 26,969 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.07% of SkyWest at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of SkyWest during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 117.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 832 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of SkyWest by 193.5% in 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.73, for a total transaction of $1,537,842.85. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 68,737 shares in the company, valued at $7,267,563.01. The trade was a 17.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total value of $681,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 175,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,882,359.19. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

SkyWest Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ SKYW opened at $88.76 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $101.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 2.00. SkyWest, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.61 and a fifty-two week 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 0.68.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $120.00) on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

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.