Oarsman Capital Inc. Decreases Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Oarsman Capital Inc. trimmed its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 33.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,000 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Oarsman Capital Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $34,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Melius Research upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Six 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $25.79 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.62. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a PE ratio of 35.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.