8,203 Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Bought by Doliver Advisors LP

Doliver Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,203 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LUV. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,963 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 689,199 shares of the airline’s stock worth $20,421,000 after purchasing an additional 21,805 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,945,000 after purchasing an additional 19,000 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at about $1,057,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV stock traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $34.06. 3,218,184 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,029,163. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -486.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $32.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.96.

Southwest Airlines 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.