8,576 Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Acquired by Financial Advocates Investment Management

Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 8,576 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $609,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 20,694 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 15.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,419,000 after purchasing an additional 64,284 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $764,000. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth approximately $592,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LUV. Citigroup upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $30.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -437.29, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.21. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $22.44 and a 1-year high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines 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 completion of 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction 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 represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.