Register Financial Advisors LLC Takes $48,000 Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LUV. Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $10,929,000 after buying an additional 103,834 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,990 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,065,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,635,000 after buying an additional 124,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $311,634,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.50 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $27.80 price target on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.83.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $28.61 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.39. The company has a market capitalization of $17.12 billion, a PE ratio of 45.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $39.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.27) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

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.