West Wealth Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

West Wealth Group LLC cut its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,432 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 472 shares during the period. West Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 60.6% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 35.3% in the third quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.6 %

LUV stock opened at $32.12 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a PE ratio of -458.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.32.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently -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.