Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,137,369 shares of the airline's stock after selling 299,607 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.19% of Southwest Airlines worth $38,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 37,793 shares of the airline's stock valued at $1,120,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 101,605 shares of the airline's stock worth $3,011,000 after buying an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth $3,482,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 16,293 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.6 %

LUV stock traded down $0.15 on Friday, reaching $24.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,518,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,905,988. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.32. The firm has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a PE ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

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.