Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. decreased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,588 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 7,425 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,792,914,000 after buying an additional 7,946,199 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares in the last quarter. Kiltearn Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Kiltearn Partners LLP now owns 2,468,983 shares of the airline’s stock worth $71,304,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,107,507 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $31,686,000 after acquiring an additional 14,017 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Melius reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $28.44 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.14, a PEG ratio of 27.22 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $27.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.06.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.