Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Sells 738 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,857 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 738 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $33,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’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 owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.1 %

LUV opened at $32.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -463.07, a P/E/G ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 1.15. 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 $23.58 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.36.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.96.

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.