Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Shares Sold by North Dakota State Investment Board

North Dakota State Investment Board decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 49.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,752 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 18,364 shares during the period. North Dakota State Investment Board’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $781,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $2,509,179,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $1,538,382,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,763,154 shares of the airline’s stock worth $216,472,000 after buying an additional 117,833 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $234,872,000. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 13.9% during the third quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 2,260,841 shares of the airline’s stock worth $94,141,000 after acquiring an additional 275,204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.51.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 2.9%

LUV stock opened at $42.41 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $29.26 and a 12 month high of $55.11. The company has a market cap of $20.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The airline reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $8.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.25 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 18.05% and a net margin of 3.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co is a major U.S. passenger airline headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company provides scheduled air transportation for leisure and business travelers, with service connecting cities throughout the United States and selected destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.

Southwest is known for its predominantly domestic network and point-to-point operating model. In addition to passenger flights, the company offers ancillary services and air cargo transportation.