Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Decreases Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,372 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 3,200 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after buying an additional 2,148,435 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,792,914,000 after acquiring an additional 7,946,199 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $30.62 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $18.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.60, a PEG ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $35.18. The company’s fifty day moving average is $28.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.99.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LUV shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.02.

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.