Raymond James Trust N.A. Purchases Shares of 7,145 Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,145 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,963,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % 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 insiders.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.3 %

LUV opened at $32.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -462.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $30.87 and a 200 day moving average of $28.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LUV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned 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 $30.25.

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.