18,117 Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Acquired by Strategic Financial Concepts LLC

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 18,117 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 32,373 shares of the airline's stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 15.7% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,497 shares of the airline's stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,422 shares of the airline's stock worth $1,435,000 after buying an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of LUV stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.79. 5,573,669 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,244,021. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $32.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $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 market cap of $17.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.14. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "sell" rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was 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.

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.