BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Has $1.63 Million Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 47.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,500 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,500 shares during the period. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on LUV. Citigroup lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 14,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $406,102.49. This trade represents a 32.74 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David P. Hess purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $614,097.12. The trade was a 47.90 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944 in the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $29.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.42, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.36) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 84.71%.

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.