West Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV – Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,904 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,611,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2,299.6% during the third 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 last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,422 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,497 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.33.
Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.5 %
NYSE:LUV traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $29.46. 1,180,157 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,385,711. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.11. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $35.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 223.25, a P/E/G ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.
Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 553.89%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
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.
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