Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Has $396,000 Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC decreased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,577 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,584 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,544,387,000 after purchasing an additional 9,444,279 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock worth $179,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,468 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth $29,789,000. Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth $24,404,000. Finally, Provident Trust Co. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 7,599,210 shares of the airline’s stock worth $219,465,000 after purchasing an additional 460,480 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LUV. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.83.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.6 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $28.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.38.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

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.