Wallace Advisory Group LLC Acquires 4,150 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Wallace Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,275 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,150 shares during the period. Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,990 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,065,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 595 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,223,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after purchasing an additional 20,694 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 15.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,419,000 after purchasing an additional 64,284 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LUV. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Melius reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $29.53 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.87, a PEG ratio of 27.03 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.