Greenleaf Trust Grows Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,914 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 441 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Motco grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 151.0% in the 3rd quarter. Motco now owns 1,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. Raymond James raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $29.30 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.53. The stock has a market cap of $17.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.62 and a 200-day moving average of $28.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.00%.

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.