Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 85.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,398,731 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 25,362,933 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.84% of Southwest Airlines worth $142,695,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,244,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at $50,433,000. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.6% in the first quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 49,688,308 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,668,533,000 after buying an additional 788,255 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth about $24,330,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth about $18,163,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.80.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $33.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.22 billion, a PE ratio of 51.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.82 and a 1-year high of $37.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.45.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.38%.The business had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 110.77%.

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.