Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Purchased by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 24.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,283 shares of the airline's stock after buying an additional 12,760 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd's holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 32.9% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 16,293 shares in the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $614,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,945,000 after purchasing an additional 19,000 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 16,503 shares of the airline's stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth $608,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on LUV. TD Cowen raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. 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 shares of 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV traded down $3.07 on Friday, hitting $25.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 23,110,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,646,264. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.13 and a 200-day moving average of $31.58. The company has a market capitalization of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.82, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (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 predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.