D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 19,035 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 36.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 33,834 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 19,035 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWC Advisors LLC. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 13,310 shares of the airline’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 22.1% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,161 shares of the airline’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 12,853 shares of the airline’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 5.9% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,101 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 34,189 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director David P. Hess acquired 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 23,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,097.12. The trade was a 47.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,670 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owned 14,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $406,102.49. The trade was a 32.74% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $33.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.36 billion, a PE ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.21. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 1.98%. The business’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.36) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.71%.

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.