OLD National Bancorp IN Buys 2,094 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,738 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,094 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Pandora Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 67.8% during the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,448 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,787 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.38.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,345 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $100,450.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,029.32. This trade represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sarah Feinberg purchased 1,500 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.01 per share, with a total value of $45,015.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $427,012.29. The trade was a 11.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.51 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.82 and a fifty-two week high of $37.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.09%.

Southwest Airlines announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.