SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 92.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,407 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,117 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 90.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 target price (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.72.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $29.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.58, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.10. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.