Stifel Financial Corp Lowers Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Stifel Financial Corp decreased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,186 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 12,996 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 608.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock worth $107,359,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after buying an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.37.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $33.02 on Monday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.71 and a 200 day moving average of $29.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -471.71, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,028.57%.

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.