Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $731,000 Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 69.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,680 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,147 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LUV. Citigroup lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $32.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -463.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.18 and its 200-day moving average is $28.36. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week 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.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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.