Boothbay Fund Management LLC Purchases Shares of 36,733 Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 36,733 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $1,235,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LUV. Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth $614,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 23.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,945,000 after acquiring an additional 19,000 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 16,503 shares of the airline’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth $608,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 75,531 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,539,000 after acquiring an additional 9,668 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Melius Research upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.54.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $26.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $29.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.09.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.36) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.71%.

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.