Olstein Capital Management L.P. Acquires 65,000 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 33.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $7,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.4% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,390 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $712,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 19,457 shares of the airline’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 4,469 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 111.2% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 172,792 shares of the airline’s stock worth $5,254,000 after purchasing an additional 90,983 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 29,694 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 5,163 shares during the period. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 29.4% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 7,365 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. 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 report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.31.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $31.22. 184,336 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,321,622. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.89 and a 200-day moving average of $28.24. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $22.58 and a one year high of $35.18. The stock has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a PE ratio of -448.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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 company 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.