Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Acquired by Raleigh Capital Management Inc.

Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 186.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 883 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $30,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,551 shares of the airline’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 16,352 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 1,676 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,190,255 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $73,636,000 after buying an additional 133,366 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,770 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $523,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on LUV. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price objective (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $32.12 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $33.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -458.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released 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 company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,028.57%.

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.