Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Country Club Bank

Country Club Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 104,609 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 4,838 shares during the period. Country Club Bank’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. West Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $205,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $1,611,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2,299.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 116,238 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,444,000 after acquiring an additional 111,394 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,422 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $29.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The company has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 46.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.11.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

About Southwest Airlines

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.