Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Has $2.52 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey decreased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Pandora Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 81.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the airline’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $32.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $23.82 and a 12 month high of $37.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.39.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its 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 net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 6.39%. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the airline to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.