Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Holdings Cut by U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,341 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 693 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 106.5% in the third quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,556,536 shares of the airline’s stock worth $69,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318,361 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock worth $179,355,000 after buying an additional 1,238,468 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $13,193,000. Provident Trust Co. raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 7,599,210 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $219,465,000 after buying an additional 460,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,619,499 shares of the airline’s stock worth $43,840,000 after acquiring an additional 418,624 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 4.9 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $27.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.42 and a 200-day moving average of $28.61. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $39.53. The stock has a market cap of $16.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.27) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. 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 report on Tuesday, March 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.24.

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.