Independent Advisor Alliance Purchases 422 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,853 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 5,450 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 348,389 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $10,323,000 after purchasing an additional 10,987 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 57,976 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 87,362 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,541 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.3 %

LUV opened at $32.14 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.05 billion, a PE ratio of 44.64, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.27.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price objective (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.72.

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.