Cerity Partners LLC Buys Shares of 23,949 Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 23,949 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Motco grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 151.0% during the 3rd quarter. Motco now owns 1,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at $75,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI restated an “inline” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $29.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.53. The firm has a market cap of $17.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.53.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Southwest Airlines’s 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.