Patton Fund Management Inc. Takes Position in Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Patton Fund Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,315 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at about $42,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 67.8% in the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,448 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 78.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,472 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on LUV. Susquehanna upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. HSBC lowered Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Sarah Feinberg purchased 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.01 per share, for a total transaction of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 14,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,012.29. The trade was a 11.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $100,450.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 23,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,029.32. This trade represents a 16.48% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.8%

LUV stock opened at $32.52 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.82 and a twelve month high of $37.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.96 and its 200-day moving average is $31.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.08 billion, a PE ratio of 49.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.19.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results 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). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 6.27%. The company had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.09%.

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

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.