Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,976 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.78.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.60 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.47. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The firm has a market cap of $19.55 billion, a PE ratio of -465.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

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.