Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Has $1.38 Million Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 89.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 40,962 shares of the airline's stock after purchasing an additional 19,298 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline's stock worth $2,308,146,000 after acquiring an additional 426,878 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline's stock worth $1,108,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,896,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline's stock valued at $475,092,000 after purchasing an additional 320,421 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline's stock valued at $205,476,000 after purchasing an additional 372,313 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,466,529 shares of the airline's stock worth $116,545,000 after purchasing an additional 88,869 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Melius upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Six 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 3.0 %

LUV opened at $25.50 on Thursday. The company's 50 day moving average is $29.58 and its 200-day moving average is $31.17. The company has a market cap of $14.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.04. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Southwest Airlines's payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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