Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock Holdings Lessened by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers cut its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 13.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,025 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 15,462 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wallace Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 11,275 shares of the airline’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 4,150 shares during the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth approximately $458,000. Creative Planning raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 5.4% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 265,150 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after acquiring an additional 13,525 shares in the last quarter. Alethea Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $500,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth approximately $8,478,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LUV. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.02.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $30.62 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.26 and a 200-day moving average of $27.99. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The stock has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 232.09, a P/E/G ratio of 12.17 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 553.89%.

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.