Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) is Towle & Co.’s 4th Largest Position

Towle & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 605,382 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 133,095 shares during the period. Southwest Airlines makes up approximately 3.5% of Towle & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Towle & Co.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $20,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,670 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,102.49. This trade represents a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. Melius Research upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.59.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.69 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.41, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.36) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 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.