Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,295 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 35.4% during the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 42.6% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,412 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 32,373 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $32.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -463.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 1.15. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.36.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LUV shares. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.96.

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.