Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Stock Position Cut by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 87.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,309 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 9,544 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $42,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% in the second quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 1,258,993 shares of the airline’s stock worth $40,842,000 after buying an additional 18,270 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $530,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 10.4% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 63,625 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,137,000 after buying an additional 5,981 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.5% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 548,423 shares of the airline’s stock worth $17,791,000 after buying an additional 23,381 shares during the period. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth about $313,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on LUV shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.38.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.59 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.45. The company has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.89, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.82 and a 1 year high of $37.96.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.27% and a net margin of 1.43%.The business had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 109.09%.

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

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

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

About Southwest Airlines

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.