Meeder Asset Management Inc. Purchases 383 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,918 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 26.0% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $764,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $32.36 on Wednesday. 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 quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.56. The company has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -462.29, a PEG ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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%. Southwest Airlines’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 business posted $0.38 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LUV. Barclays raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines 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.