Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 18,047 Shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 216,574 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,047 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $18,413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in SkyWest in the 3rd quarter worth about $648,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in SkyWest in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SkyWest during the third quarter worth approximately $233,000. Invst LLC raised its stake in shares of SkyWest by 39.1% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SkyWest in the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 19,079 shares of SkyWest stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total value of $1,993,373.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 97,654 shares in the company, valued at $10,202,889.92. This trade represents a 16.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Eric Woodward sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $446,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,426 shares in the company, valued at $4,954,831.78. The trade was a 8.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 92,467 shares of company stock worth $10,082,596 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SkyWest stock opened at $103.77 on Friday. SkyWest, Inc. has a one year low of $48.28 and a one year high of $117.51. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.74 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.96.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last posted 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 company had revenue of $912.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $896.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. SkyWest’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that SkyWest, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on SkyWest from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $119.00 price objective on shares of SkyWest in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Raymond James boosted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.75.

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.