New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 97.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 235,381 shares of the airline's stock after selling 8,105,500 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund's holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $7,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 75,531 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,539,000 after buying an additional 9,668 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 128,359 shares of the airline's stock valued at $4,315,000 after buying an additional 63,051 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 12,026 shares of the airline's stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 3,608 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 152,900 shares of the airline's stock valued at $5,141,000 after buying an additional 30,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on LUV. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an "in-line" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.13.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $36.87. 9,181,352 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,795,539. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.77. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $37.96. The company has a market cap of $21.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 1.21. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $33.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.24.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 1.98%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.36) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines's payout ratio is currently 84.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 14,881 shares in the company, valued at $406,102.49. This represents a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David P. Hess purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.52 per share, with a total value of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 23,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $614,097.12. This trade represents a 47.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is 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.