Amalgamated Bank Lowers Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Amalgamated Bank lowered its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,610 shares of the airline's stock after selling 76,122 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank's holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.6% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 21,306 shares of the airline's stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 32,551 shares of the airline's stock valued at $950,000 after acquiring an additional 4,891 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 72.6% in the 1st quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 67,342 shares of the airline's stock valued at $1,966,000 after acquiring an additional 28,316 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 328.1% in the first quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 13,606 shares of the airline's stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 10,428 shares during the period. Finally, West Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth $201,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.7 %

LUV stock traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $31.78. 4,071,176 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,760,150. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $30.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.27. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $22.58 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The stock has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -454.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) 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 business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company's revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.31.

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.