SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.59 EPS

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The transportation company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.59, Zacks reports. SkyWest had a return on equity of 11.02% and a net margin of 7.29%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share.

SkyWest Stock Up 3.6 %

NASDAQ:SKYW opened at $120.92 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $108.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.22. The company has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 1.98. SkyWest has a 52-week low of $52.78 and a 52-week high of $135.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Insider Activity

In other SkyWest news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 16,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total value of $1,731,254.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 113,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,923,865.78. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 27,903 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total transaction of $3,110,347.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 349,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,964,115.56. The trade was a 7.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 92,467 shares of company stock valued at $10,082,596. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up from $120.00) on shares of SkyWest in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $119.00 target price on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.75.

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.