Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Purchased by Financial Partners Group LLC

Financial Partners Group LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 53.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 57,687 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,001 shares during the period. Financial Partners Group LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,990 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,065,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the airline’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 595 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares during the period. Polianta Ltd acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at $1,223,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.2 %

LUV traded up $0.05 on Monday, reaching $25.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,938,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,678,371. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $35.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.46 and its 200 day moving average is $28.86. The stock has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The company 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Melius reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.47.

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.