Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New $1.34 Million Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 49,538 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $609,000. Czech National Bank grew 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 worth $3,065,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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. Polianta Ltd bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,223,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 26.0% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,931,000 after buying an additional 20,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $30.36 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.47 and a beta of 1.17.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 114.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.02.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.