Savant Capital LLC Purchases 1,569 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,266 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock worth $10,929,000 after acquiring an additional 103,834 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline’s stock worth $83,299,000 after purchasing an additional 23,715 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 24.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline’s stock worth $22,506,000 after purchasing an additional 163,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 95,911 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,770,000 after buying an additional 25,268 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LUV. Barclays lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.24.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 4.9 %

LUV opened at $27.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.41 billion, a PE ratio of 43.52, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.42 and a 200-day moving average of $28.61. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines 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.