Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $830,000 Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,673 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,934 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,770 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LUV. StockNews.com raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $30.00 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.74. The company has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.