Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Purchases 725 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,545 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pandora Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth $34,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth $42,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $42,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 67.8% during the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,448 shares of the airline’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 122.3% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,787 shares of the airline’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.6%

LUV stock opened at $32.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.65. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.82 and a 52 week high of $37.96. The company has a market capitalization of $16.89 billion, a PE ratio of 49.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 6.39%. The business had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the airline to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 109.09%.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. HSBC lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $33.38.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.