State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 584 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,340 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 584 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at $609,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 15.0% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock worth $14,419,000 after acquiring an additional 64,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at $764,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.6 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.61 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -460.14, a PEG ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.39.

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

Southwest Airlines Company 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.