CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 1,355 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lessened its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 14.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,730 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,355 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in 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 bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on LUV. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.08.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.9 %

LUV stock opened at $30.77 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.45 billion, a PE ratio of 42.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.47.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate 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.