Virtu Financial LLC Makes New Investment in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,547 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in SkyWest in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 157.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 491 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 117.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 832 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James reaffirmed 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 Trading Down 0.9 %

SkyWest stock opened at $93.32 on Thursday. SkyWest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.61 and a 1 year high of $135.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $102.44 and its 200-day moving average is $100.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 2.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.59. SkyWest had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 14.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SkyWest news, VP Greg Wooley sold 14,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $7,267,563.01. This trade represents a 17.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.57, for a total transaction of $681,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 175,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,882,359.19. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.