Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Increases Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,378 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 919 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pandora Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 67.8% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,787 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.82 and a 1-year high of $37.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $32.37 and its 200 day moving average is $31.65.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.38%.The firm had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $33.38.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

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

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.