Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 7,019 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its position in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 109,194 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 7,019 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of SkyWest worth $10,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SKYW. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SkyWest by 90.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 551,060 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,225,000 after buying an additional 261,349 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in SkyWest by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,151,578 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $94,510,000 after acquiring an additional 165,670 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in SkyWest by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 484,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $41,162,000 after purchasing an additional 143,661 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in SkyWest by 563.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 152,940 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $13,002,000 after purchasing an additional 129,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 27.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 445,990 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $36,602,000 after purchasing an additional 96,830 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SKYW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $119.00 price objective on shares of SkyWest in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of SkyWest from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SkyWest has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.75.

Insider Transactions at SkyWest

In related news, CFO Robert J. Simmons sold 16,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total transaction of $1,731,254.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 113,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,923,865.78. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 27,903 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $38,964,115.56. The trade was a 7.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 92,467 shares of company stock worth $10,082,596 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SKYW opened at $101.80 on Friday. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.28 and a 52-week high of $117.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.40 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.47.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.24. SkyWest had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 11.02%. The business had revenue of $912.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $896.21 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 19.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS 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.