Wahed Invest LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Wahed Invest LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,638 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 33.7% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,963,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,751,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.61.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $34.18 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $20.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -488.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.38 and a 200-day moving average of $29.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.