State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $2.08 Million Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,340 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 584 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,435 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position 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 raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after buying an additional 1,372,305 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced 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 boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.55 billion, a PE ratio of -460.14, a PEG ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.39.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

About Southwest Airlines

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.