Waldron Private Wealth LLC Acquires New Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,533 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 94.0% during the 1st quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Susquehanna boosted 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. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report 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 MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.33.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $30.73 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $29.28 and its 200 day moving average is $28.11. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The company has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 236.40, a P/E/G ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 553.89%.

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.