Atria Investments Inc Boosts Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 30.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,351 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,450 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

LUV opened at $32.33 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a PE ratio of -461.86, a P/E/G ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.51. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued 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 business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 value of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.78.

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.