Nicholas Investment Partners LP Lowers Holdings in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP reduced its position in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 126,518 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,028 shares during the period. SkyWest comprises approximately 1.1% of Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $12,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 415,296 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $41,584,000 after acquiring an additional 57,547 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in SkyWest by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 159,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $15,979,000 after buying an additional 4,416 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in SkyWest by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 22,556 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after acquiring an additional 874 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 69.5% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,651 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 4,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest in the fourth quarter worth about $318,000. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 68,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Trading Up 1.8%

SkyWest stock opened at $103.84 on Wednesday. SkyWest, Inc. has a one year low of $64.61 and a one year high of $135.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $88.47 and its 200 day moving average is $100.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 1.88. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $948.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $946.13 million. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current year.

SkyWest declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the transportation company to buy up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SKYW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reduced their price target on SkyWest from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of SkyWest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised SkyWest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $119.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

SkyWest Company 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.