Sfmg LLC Takes $1.06 Million Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Sfmg LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 35,673 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $1,057,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock worth $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after buying an additional 46,110 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $48,551,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $33.45 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -479.43, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, 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 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.