Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,188 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 11,936 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the second 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 period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at $33,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $30.60 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $22.44 and a one year high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company 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 capitalization of $18.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -437.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines 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 shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Southwest Airlines 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 shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents 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 owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on LUV shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.