Smith Anglin Financial LLC Has $4.81 Million Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Smith Anglin Financial LLC reduced its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 143,157 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 894 shares during the period. Southwest Airlines makes up approximately 0.5% of Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. CWC Advisors LLC. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 13,310 shares of the airline’s stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,822 shares of the airline’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,161 shares of the airline’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 12,853 shares of the airline’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,101 shares of the airline’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LUV shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Melius upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.53.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the purchase, the director now owns 14,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $406,102.49. This represents a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.8%

LUV stock opened at $33.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.13. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.36) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 84.71%.

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.