Jones Financial Companies Lllp Purchases 111,455 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 562,297 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 111,455 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $18,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth $4,728,000. Finally, Terril Brothers Inc. acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,053,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 target price (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus raised 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 note on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $31.07 on Monday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.15, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.89 and a 200-day moving average of $31.05.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.