Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Acquires 4,229 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 139,763 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 4,229 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $56,244,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at $50,433,000. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 1.6% in the first quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 49,688,308 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,668,533,000 after acquiring an additional 788,255 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at $24,330,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth $18,163,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on LUV. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.73.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.39. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.82 and a fifty-two week high of $37.96. The firm has a market cap of $16.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Southwest Airlines announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the airline to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.