Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Holdings Decreased by Econ Financial Services Corp

Econ Financial Services Corp reduced its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 17.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,636 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 8,957 shares during the period. Econ Financial Services Corp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,770 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LUV. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.08.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.9 %

LUV stock opened at $30.77 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.56 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.