Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 33,030 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 33.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,013 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 33,030 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 374.0% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 82.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.50 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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 report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, April 26th. Five 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.36.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $27.53 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.70, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.27) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

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.