Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Trims Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 8.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,739 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,564 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.33 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.34 and its 200 day moving average is $28.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -461.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

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.