Mendel Capital Management LLC Invests $202,000 in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Mendel Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,806 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.9% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,792,914,000 after buying an additional 7,946,199 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after buying an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $48,551,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of LUV opened at $32.60 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -465.71, a PEG ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $35.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

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

Southwest Airlines 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.