South Dakota Investment Council Reduces Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

South Dakota Investment Council cut its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 433,693 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 8,777 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $12,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $10,929,000 after acquiring an additional 103,834 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,635,000 after acquiring an additional 124,054 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $83,299,000 after acquiring an additional 23,715 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 24.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $22,506,000 after acquiring an additional 163,544 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Resource Council lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 14,826 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 5,178 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on LUV. Evercore ISI reissued an “inline” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV traded down $0.27 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.46. 7,001,038 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,316,646. The company has a market capitalization of $17.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $39.53.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.00%.

Southwest Airlines 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.