PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Trims Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm 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.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,918 shares of the airline’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth about $259,000. Mendel Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $202,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,541 shares of the airline’s stock worth $609,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $32.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -463.29, a PEG ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.69. 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 released its quarterly 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on LUV. Barclays lifted their price target 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. 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 research note on Monday, August 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly 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 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. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.