Financial Sense Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Financial Sense Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,934 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.9% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline's stock worth $7,645,000 after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline's stock worth $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Highland Peak Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,963,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth about $614,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on LUV shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $29.97. The stock had a trading volume of 7,207,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,296,786. The company has a market capitalization of $17.76 billion, a PE ratio of 41.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.74. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

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.