Inspire Trust Co. N.A. Purchases 19,000 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 99,407 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,000 shares during the quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the third 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 during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth approximately $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on LUV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.24 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -474.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 posted $0.38 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.