Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 130,169 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,846 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also 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. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.78 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -468.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.40. 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 posted 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 company had revenue of $6.87 billion for 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 was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.37.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.