Global Retirement Partners LLC Has $399,000 Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Global Retirement Partners LLC decreased its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,462 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 427 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 5.0% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 35.4% during the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price 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, BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.33.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $30.44 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $18.24 billion, a PE ratio of 234.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.07.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 553.89%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.