Rhumbline Advisers Decreases Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,044,800 shares of the airline's stock after selling 11,178 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.17% of Southwest Airlines worth $35,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 32,373 shares of the airline's stock worth $959,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 6.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,759 shares of the airline's stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $242,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,497 shares of the airline's stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LUV. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $29.50 price objective (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 2.7 %

LUV traded down $0.81 on Friday, hitting $29.80. The company had a trading volume of 10,257,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,397,523. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.74. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

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.