Studio Investment Management LLC Has $207,000 Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Studio Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on LUV. Citigroup increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.78.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

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

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $31.97 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $30.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.63. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 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 paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

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.