Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 804 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,099 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 804 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWC Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the first quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 16,301 shares of the airline’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 22.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 16,998 shares of the airline’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted 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 worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $32.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.26, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.21. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $37.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The airline reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.30 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 6.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the airline to purchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 109.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the acquisition, the director owned 14,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $406,102.49. The trade was a 32.74% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped 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, July 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.75.

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.