Doliver Advisors LP Makes New $276,000 Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Doliver Advisors LP bought a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,203 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LUV. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,963,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on LUV. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.96.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $34.06. 3,218,184 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,029,163. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The business’s 50-day moving average is $32.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -486.57, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

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.