Zions Bancorporation N.A. Grows Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 13.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,190 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,792,914,000 after buying an additional 7,946,199 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after buying an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV stock opened at $32.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $19.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -465.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.15. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $35.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.39.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, 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 21.73 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.78.

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.