Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 52,838 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC decreased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 173,223 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 52,838 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $5,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,621 shares of the airline’s stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 75,531 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,539,000 after acquiring an additional 9,668 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 34,267 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,152,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth about $2,698,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on LUV. Melius Research raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $34.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $31.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.37. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The company has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.39, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. 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.