Amalgamated Bank Acquires 897 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 118,507 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.4 %

LUV stock opened at $31.07 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $18.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

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.