Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Acquires 5,981 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 10.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 63,625 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,981 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,859,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 90.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 92.4% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,407 shares of the airline’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $108,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,466,529 shares of the airline’s stock worth $116,545,000 after purchasing an additional 88,869 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.88.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE LUV opened at $34.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.00, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.08. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 1.98%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.36) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.71%.

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.