Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,081,156 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 65,793 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.18% of Southwest Airlines worth $31,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Motco raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $27.03 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $39.53. The company has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.55.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.27) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.18.

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.