Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Acquires New Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 18,117 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $932,894,000 after buying an additional 9,504,201 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,946 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after purchasing an additional 46,110 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,190,255 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $73,636,000 after purchasing an additional 133,366 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on LUV. UBS Group raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $30.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a PE ratio of 41.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.74. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.