Triangle Securities Wealth Management Purchases New Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Triangle Securities Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,718 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 60.6% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.3% during the third quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Finally, City State Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 55.8% during the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,955 shares of the airline’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $32.19 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $33.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $19.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -459.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.14. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 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 firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

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.