Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 10,987 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 348,389 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 10,987 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $10,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at $120,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.9% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,607 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,775 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 747.1% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 27,837 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 24,551 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 188,665 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $32.60 on Monday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.47. The stock has a market cap of $19.55 billion, a PE ratio of -465.71, a P/E/G ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.78.

About Southwest Airlines

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.