PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 5,085 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 75,144 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 5,085 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth approximately $120,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.9% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,607 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,775 shares during the period. BOKF NA raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 17,796 shares of the airline’s stock worth $519,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 188,347 shares of the airline’s stock worth $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 35,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 15.5% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 10,756 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on LUV shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.78.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

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

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.4 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.43 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $35.18. The firm has a market cap of $19.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -463.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

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.