Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Purchased by Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 82.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 914 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $26,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LUV. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,452 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 8,245 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 3,194 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 56.2% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 142,244 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $4,108,000 after buying an additional 51,204 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 31,575 shares of the airline’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 7.5 %

Shares of LUV traded down $2.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $27.11. 19,424,209 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,460,022. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.54. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. The company has a market cap of $16.22 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.