Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Acquired by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 22.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 207,062 shares of the airline's stock after acquiring an additional 38,205 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC's holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $6,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $31.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.43.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.5 %

LUV traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $25.99. 19,172,082 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,696,241. The company has a market cap of $15.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $31.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.