Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 3,079 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,846 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 3,079 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 1,258,993 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $40,842,000 after purchasing an additional 18,270 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $530,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 63,625 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 5,981 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 548,423 shares of the airline’s stock worth $17,791,000 after acquiring an additional 23,381 shares during the period. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth approximately $313,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $100,450.35. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 23,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,029.32. This trade represents a 16.48% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sarah Feinberg purchased 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.01 per share, with a total value of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 14,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,012.29. This represents a 11.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.38.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $31.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a PE ratio of 47.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.21. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.82 and a one year high of $37.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.42.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.27% and a net margin of 1.43%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the airline to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.09%.

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.