Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Sells 9,306 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey trimmed its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 10.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,582 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 9,306 shares during the quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,517,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 11.9% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 23,235 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.9% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,848 shares of the airline’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 46,276 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,997 shares during the last quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. now owns 22,795 shares of the airline’s stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 86,254 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,896,000 after purchasing an additional 7,405 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $32.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.21 and a 200-day moving average of $32.39. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.82 and a 52 week high of $37.96. The company has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.24, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.24.

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. The business had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.38%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the airline to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. HSBC lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.73.

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.