Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 3,581 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,024 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 3,581 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.0% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,067 shares of the airline’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.6% during the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,639 shares of the airline’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 50,213 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,691,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,182,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 4.4% in the first quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 8,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on LUV. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $29.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.17, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.38) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.00%.

Southwest Airlines 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.