Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Invests $12.69 Million in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments 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 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 377,372 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $12,687,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC owned 0.06% of Southwest Airlines as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at $3,482,000. Sfmg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,057,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline's stock worth $932,894,000 after buying an additional 9,504,201 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline's stock worth $2,945,000 after buying an additional 19,000 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 689,199 shares of the airline's stock valued at $20,421,000 after buying an additional 21,805 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays decreased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Melius upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.54.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.1 %

LUV opened at $26.49 on Friday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $29.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.11. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $15.20 billion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. As a group, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.71%.

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.

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