Grove Bank & Trust Sells 7,702 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Grove Bank & Trust cut its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 77.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,222 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 7,702 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $64,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Roundview Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.2% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 13,336 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,335 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth about $403,000. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 6,335 shares of the airline’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 40,189 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,841,000 after buying an additional 1,246 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group initiated coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE LUV opened at $27.84 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.06 and its 200 day moving average is $28.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $39.53. The stock has a market cap of $16.66 billion, a PE ratio of 37.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.38) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 96.00%.

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.