Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUVFree Report) by 93.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 212,308 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 102,523 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $7,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.9% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 16,293 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,963,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $614,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LUV shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price objective (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.78.

View Our Latest Stock Report on LUV

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $29.80 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $32.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.66 billion, a PE ratio of 41.38, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUVGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Southwest Airlines

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)

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