Olstein Capital Management L.P. Reduces Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 20.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 192,000 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 48,000 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $6,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,551 shares of the airline’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 119,113 shares of the airline’s stock worth $4,023,000 after purchasing an additional 11,200 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 57,644 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,960,000 after purchasing an additional 19,456 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth about $609,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 33,690 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after buying an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Melius Research raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.53.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $33.49 on Monday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.08 billion, a PE ratio of 46.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.36) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.71%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,102.49. This represents a 32.74% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David P. Hess purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.52 per share, with a total value of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 23,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $614,097.12. The trade was a 47.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.