Everence Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,990 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 4,480 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Roundview Capital LLC raised 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 worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 2,335 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth $403,000. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 16.6% during the first quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 6,335 shares of the airline’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.2% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 40,189 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $28.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 37.40, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.46. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.38) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.82.

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.