Zions Bancorporation N.A. Buys 631 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,190 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,792,914,000 after acquiring an additional 7,946,199 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the first 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. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after buying an additional 1,372,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. Susquehanna boosted 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. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.55 billion, a PE ratio of -465.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.23 and a 200 day moving average of $28.39.

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

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.