Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Court Place Advisors LLC

Court Place Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,103 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 4,988 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 4.0% in the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,067 shares of the airline’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.6% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,639 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 50,213 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.4% in the first quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 8,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.6 %

NYSE LUV traded up $0.73 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.78. 7,943,888 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,387,864. The stock has a market cap of $17.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.46. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The company had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.38) EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.