Gregg A. Saretsky Acquires 3,670 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $406,102.49. This represents a 32.74 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 4.3 %

NYSE LUV opened at $29.82 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $17.11 billion, a PE ratio of 41.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.02.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.36) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.71%.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,308,146,000 after acquiring an additional 426,878 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,108,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,896,150 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $475,092,000 after purchasing an additional 320,421 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline’s stock worth $205,476,000 after buying an additional 372,313 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline’s stock worth $202,219,000 after buying an additional 2,391,495 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Melius upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Melius Research raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.43.

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.