Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $1.32 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,594 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 2,721 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.81 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -468.71, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for 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%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,028.57%.

Southwest Airlines 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.