Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 51,445 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.2% during the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,116 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $507,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 11.5% during the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Six 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.31.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.9 %

LUV opened at $30.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.97 and its 200 day moving average is $30.43. The stock has a market cap of $18.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -438.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,028.57%.

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.