Mutual Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Mutual Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,983 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 5,833 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LUV. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 78.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,472 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 90.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Melius Research raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.88.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $34.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.08. 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 $19.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 1.21.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.36) earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the acquisition, the director owned 14,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $406,102.49. The trade was a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David P. Hess bought 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.52 per share, with a total value of $198,900.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 23,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $614,097.12. The trade was a 47.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.