Prudential Financial Inc. Buys 23,800 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 355,366 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 23,800 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $35,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SKYW. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in SkyWest by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 10,835 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in SkyWest by 6.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in SkyWest by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 68,737 shares in the company, valued at $7,267,563.01. The trade was a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

SkyWest Stock Performance

SKYW stock opened at $94.16 on Wednesday. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.61 and a 1-year high of $135.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.12 and a beta of 2.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $102.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.29.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.34 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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.