MetLife Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 155,763 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 3,841 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,615,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LUV. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen upped their target price 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. Susquehanna raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.36 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $30.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of -462.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $35.18.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

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.