Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $30.31 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV – Get Rating) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 707,426 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 20,973 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Southwest Airlines worth $30,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,601,522 shares of the airline’s stock worth $544,220,000 after buying an additional 47,260 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.9% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,506,729 shares of the airline’s stock worth $540,361,000 after purchasing an additional 393,044 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 19.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,145,338 shares of the airline’s stock worth $213,195,000 after purchasing an additional 665,419 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 9.8% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,333,284 shares of the airline’s stock worth $68,571,000 after purchasing an additional 118,672 shares during the period. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $1,328,000. 76.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LUV stock opened at $42.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $44.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.71. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.75 and a fifty-two week high of $63.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.49 billion, a PE ratio of 45.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.92.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28th. The airline reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $0.02. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 3.17% and a negative return on equity of 4.39%. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.72) EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 128.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of research analysts have commented on LUV shares. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Friday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $62.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, April 29th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $59.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 7th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $48.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Monday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.88.

About Southwest Airlines (Get Rating)

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated a total fleet of 728 Boeing 737 aircrafts; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as 10 near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.

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