Readystate Asset Management LP Invests $606,000 in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,974 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LUV. Roundview Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.2% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 13,336 shares of the airline’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,335 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at about $403,000. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 6,335 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 40,189 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,841,000 after buying an additional 1,246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.0 %

LUV traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $29.06. 7,439,848 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,376,733. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.53. The company has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a PE ratio of 38.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.46.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.25. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The business had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.38) EPS. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 96.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LUV. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.82.

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.