Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Shares Purchased by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,256,165 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,894 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $51,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 24,857 shares of the airline’s stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,285 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,791 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.4% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 83,070 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,651,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, CI Investments Inc. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 11.0% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 3,545 shares of the airline’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on LUV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Seaport Research Partners increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $57.00 to $58.00 in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $59.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $66.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $54.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.25.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $39.50 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of 47.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.82 and a 12 month high of $55.11.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.02. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.18% and a net margin of 1.57%.The business had revenue of $7.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Airlines has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.000- EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.450- EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 85.71%.

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co is a U.S.-based low-cost carrier that operates a point-to-point domestic and near-international airline network. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company primarily flies Boeing 737 aircraft and offers no-frills, single-class service designed to keep fares competitive. Southwest’s operating model emphasizes high aircraft utilization, quick turnaround times and an open seating policy, allowing customers to board and select seats on a first-come, first-served basis.

Founded in 1967 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King as Air Southwest Company, Southwest began commercial service in 1971, initially connecting Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.