Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Shares Sold by M&G PLC

M&G PLC cut its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 98.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 424,717 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 24,062,216 shares during the period. M&G PLC owned about 0.08% of Southwest Airlines worth $13,591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the first quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 16,301 shares of the airline’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.5% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 11,050 shares of the airline’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $33.38.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 4.2%

LUV stock opened at $33.34 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.24. The company has a market capitalization of $17.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.29, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.82 and a twelve month high of $37.96.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 6.39%. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the airline to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.