Edgestream Partners L.P. Purchases 11,835 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 22.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,763 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,835 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LUV. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $932,894,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504,201 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,466,529 shares of the airline’s stock worth $116,545,000 after acquiring an additional 88,869 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 3,457,661 shares of the airline’s stock worth $116,247,000 after acquiring an additional 56,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.72.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $29.20 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

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.