Cwm LLC Cuts Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cwm LLC lessened its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 12.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,538 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 2,585 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,889,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $30.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The company has a market capitalization of $18.54 billion, a PE ratio of 49.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.97 and its 200 day moving average is $28.06.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.33.

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.