21,934 Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Bought by Financial Sense Advisors Inc.

Financial Sense Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 21,934 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 32,373 shares of the airline’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,759 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,497 shares of the airline’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,422 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $30.15 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.