Cooper Financial Group Increases Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cooper Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,520 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,097 shares during the quarter. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 16,293 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Peak Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,963,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.55.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.72 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $32.92 and its 200 day moving average is $30.04. The stock has a market cap of $19.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -467.43, a PEG ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

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.