Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Reduces Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 217,005 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 17,453 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $6,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on LUV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.01 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.22. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. 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 stock has a market cap of $19.80 billion, a PE ratio of -471.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

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.