7,059 Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Bought by Verus Capital Partners LLC

Verus Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,059 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 348,389 shares of the airline’s stock worth $10,323,000 after purchasing an additional 10,987 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 6.6% during the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 11,463 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth approximately $2,121,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 5,450 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $32.38 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.46 and a 52 week high of $35.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $19.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -462.57, a PEG ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.12 and a 200-day moving average of $28.34.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered 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. Susquehanna increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company 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.