Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Grows Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 82.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 914 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $26,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,383 shares of the airline’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.3% in the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 11,316 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock traded down $2.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $27.11. The stock had a trading volume of 19,424,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,460,022. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.15, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $30.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.54.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.27) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

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.