Norges Bank Takes $23.85 Million Position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 238,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,851,000. Norges Bank owned 0.59% of SkyWest as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in SkyWest by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,495 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in SkyWest by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 7,800 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SkyWest Trading Down 5.1 %

NASDAQ:SKYW opened at $80.23 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $98.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.90. SkyWest, Inc. has a one year low of $64.61 and a one year high of $135.57.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on SKYW. Raymond James cut their price target on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SkyWest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday.

SkyWest Profile

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.