Wealthspire Advisors LLC Sells 790 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,014 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 790 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,728,000. Finally, Appian Way Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,238,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $30.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.94. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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.