Sound Shore Management Inc. CT Purchases New Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,536,050 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $85,262,000. Southwest Airlines accounts for approximately 2.8% of Sound Shore Management Inc. CT’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT owned approximately 0.42% of Southwest Airlines at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 575 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in 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 during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Melius Research raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna cut their price objective 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, February 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $34.84 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.39. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

About Southwest Airlines

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.