Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 530 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,586 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 530 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $74,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 5.0% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.4% in the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,412 shares of the airline’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on LUV. Melius reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.7 %

LUV opened at $28.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.52, a P/E/G ratio of 27.17 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.23.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.