10,555 Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Acquired by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,555 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $354,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pandora Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 78.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,472 shares of the airline’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,787 shares of the airline’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the period. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 370.3% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,919 shares of the airline’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Sarah Feinberg acquired 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.01 per share, with a total value of $45,015.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 14,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,012.29. This trade represents a 11.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $100,450.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 23,644 shares in the company, valued at $710,029.32. This represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $34.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $33.06.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.5%

LUV opened at $33.22 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.26. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.82 and a 12 month high of $37.96.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The airline reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.30 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 6.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the airline to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.09%.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.