Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 3,079 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,846 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 3,079 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 7.1% in the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 4,690 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the first quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 16,301 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 76,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 4.5% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. Finally, Bingham Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.7% in the second quarter. Bingham Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,880 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $31.35 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.42. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.82 and a 52 week high of $37.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a PE ratio of 47.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.21.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 6.27%. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 109.09%.

Southwest Airlines announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the airline to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LUV shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. HSBC cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.38.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Sarah Feinberg acquired 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.01 per share, for a total transaction of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 14,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,012.29. This represents a 11.78% increase 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 Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $100,450.35. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 23,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,029.32. This trade represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% 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.