UMB Bank n.a. Sells 11,229 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

UMB Bank n.a. trimmed its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 44.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,831 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 11,229 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,792,914,000 after acquiring an additional 7,946,199 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,435 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on LUV. Barclays increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.02.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE LUV opened at $30.62 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. 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 50 day simple moving average of $28.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 235.56, a price-to-earnings-growth 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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 553.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.