Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Kercheville Advisors LLC

Kercheville Advisors LLC decreased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,120 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 20,500 shares during the quarter. Southwest Airlines accounts for about 1.0% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,792,914,000 after purchasing an additional 7,946,199 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after buying an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.14.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $29.43 on Monday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 46.71, a P/E/G ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.11. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

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.