35,673 Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Acquired by Sfmg LLC

Sfmg LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 35,673 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $1,057,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 5.2% during the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline's stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline's stock worth $507,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 11.5% during the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the airline's stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,918 shares of the airline's stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LUV. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.37.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.0 %

LUV traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $33.24. 5,285,882 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,089,826. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -479.43, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $31.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

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.