Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock Position Raised by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 32.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,293 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired 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 owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This 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 insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $32.47 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $31.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -463.86, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on LUV. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

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.