Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stake Lessened by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 12.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,085 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,350 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $609,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 15.0% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,419,000 after purchasing an additional 64,284 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $764,000. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth approximately $592,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $29.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

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.