Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Bought by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,444,279 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned approximately 8.96% of Southwest Airlines worth $1,544,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,383 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $27.80 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.10.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock traded up $0.66 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.46. 8,928,319 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,930,206. The stock has a market cap of $17.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $27.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.17. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $39.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.27) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.