Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Position Trimmed by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lessened its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,522 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 2,909 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 90.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. UBS Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $29.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $34.84 on Monday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a PE ratio of 48.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.16 and a 200-day moving average of $31.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. On average, equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Southwest Airlines Profile

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.