MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $4.62 Million Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth $2,963,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at $1,751,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.36 on Monday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -462.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.56 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.82.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

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

About Southwest Airlines

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.