Midwest Trust Co Acquires New Position in Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Midwest Trust Co bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 15,104 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $490,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 81.4% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the airline’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $33.38.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.82 and a 12-month high of $37.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 6.39%. Analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the airline to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.