Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Court Place Advisors LLC

Court Place Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,608 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 997 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $591,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 15.3% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 8,857 shares of the airline’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 1,176 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,925 shares of the airline’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 17.8% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 409,653 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $13,756,000 after buying an additional 61,827 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,844 shares of the airline’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 4,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 31.2% during the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,271 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Melius Research upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft 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 Thursday, May 29th. Susquehanna cut their target price on 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 lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director David P. Hess acquired 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owned 23,156 shares in the company, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,670 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $406,102.49. The trade was a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $33.97 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $19.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

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