Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 217,005 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 17,453 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $6,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $33.01 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -471.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.