Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC Makes New $243,000 Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,200 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cooper Financial Group boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 26,520 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $892,000 after buying an additional 5,097 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 130,035 shares of the airline’s stock worth $4,372,000 after acquiring an additional 7,981 shares in the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on LUV. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.55.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE LUV opened at $32.72 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.04. 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 company has a market capitalization of $19.62 billion, a PE ratio of -467.43, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. 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 2.20%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is 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.