TD Private Client Wealth LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 41.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $35,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LUV shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $32.70 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.31. The firm has a market cap of $19.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -467.07, a PEG ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.