Private Trust Co. NA Sells 773 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Private Trust Co. NA decreased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 16.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,849 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 773 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,751,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $233,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 38,795 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after buying an additional 4,074 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 7,055 shares of the airline’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 8.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 93,961 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,784,000 after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday. Four research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $32.36 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -462.29, a PEG ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.94 and a 200 day moving average of $28.80.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,028.57%.

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.