Oak Thistle LLC Has $260,000 Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Oak Thistle LLC cut its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 57.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,739 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 10,609 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth about $243,000. Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 26,520 shares of the airline’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 5,097 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $237,000. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 130,035 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $4,372,000 after purchasing an additional 7,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.19 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a PE ratio of -459.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.10.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,028.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.