Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,739 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,564 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after buying an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,792,914,000 after purchasing an additional 7,946,199 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.78.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a PE ratio of -461.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.51. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year 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.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value 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 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.