Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock Holdings Lowered by Harbour Investments Inc.

Harbour Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,564 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 2,040 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $932,894,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504,201 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111,946 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,541,000. LBP AM SA acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,973,000. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,728,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LUV. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Melius Research raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price objective (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $34.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.39, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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.