State of Michigan Retirement System Increases Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,703 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Motco increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 151.0% in the third quarter. Motco now owns 1,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 247.5% in the 1st quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 702 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $27.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $16.69 billion, a PE ratio of 37.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.43. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.38) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on LUV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Evercore ISI restated an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.24.

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.