New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC Has $57,000 Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 35.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $459,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 90.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,066 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 1,932 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at $254,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 120.9% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,001 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 1,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 11,753 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $30.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a PE ratio of -437.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.77 and a 200-day moving average of $28.21. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $22.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by 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.