Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Makes New Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 54,373 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $1,611,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $609,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,419,000 after acquiring an additional 64,284 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $764,000. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at $592,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $30.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $22.44 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.21. The firm has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of -437.14, a P/E/G ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.17.

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

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.