abrdn plc Has $2.77 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

abrdn plc grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 35.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 95,911 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,268 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 7,914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $617,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 24,531 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1,052.2% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 6,153 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 5,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TRUE Private Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,383 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LUV shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. 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 research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.18.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $27.03 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $30.34 and its 200 day moving average is $28.56. The company has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.90, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

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.