Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stake Increased by Opal Wealth Advisors LLC

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,965 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 32.9% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,963,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $614,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on LUV. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.08.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $30.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.55. The company has a market cap of $18.58 billion, a PE ratio of 43.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. 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 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.