Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Purchased by Avior Wealth Management LLC

Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,116 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock worth $107,359,000 after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after acquiring an additional 46,110 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position 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 worth $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,190,255 shares of the airline’s stock worth $73,636,000 after acquiring an additional 133,366 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.12 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $33.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -458.89, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.14. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

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.