Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Stock Holdings Decreased by Parallel Advisors LLC

Parallel Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,833 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,268 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWC Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 13,310 shares of the airline’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 16,301 shares of the airline’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 76,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the airline’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,161 shares of the airline’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.53 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.41 and a 200-day moving average of $31.42. The firm has a market cap of $17.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.19. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.82 and a twelve month high of $37.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The airline reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.30 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.27% and a net margin of 1.43%.The company’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the airline to purchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Sarah Feinberg bought 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.01 per share, for a total transaction of $45,015.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 14,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,012.29. This trade represents a 11.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $100,450.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 23,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,029.32. This represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $34.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.38.

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.