Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Makes New Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 6,441 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 60.6% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 35.3% during the third quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.55.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $33.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -473.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.86 and its 200-day moving average is $29.98.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Southwest Airlines 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.