Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. decreased its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 50.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,809 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 83,170 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $10,929,000 after purchasing an additional 103,834 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,635,000 after purchasing an additional 124,054 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $83,299,000 after purchasing an additional 23,715 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $22,506,000 after purchasing an additional 163,544 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Resource Council lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 14,826 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 5,178 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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. Evercore ISI restated an “inline” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE LUV opened at $29.06 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.46. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.38) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.00%.

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.