CoreFirst Bank & Trust Acquires New Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,957 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $167,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,116 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,822 shares of the airline’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the airline’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,135 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $34.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $20.69 billion, a PE ratio of 48.48, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. Research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. UBS Group raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.52.

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.