Advisor Resource Council Purchases Shares of 13,355 Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,355 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 67,741 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,118,000 after buying an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 89,072 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,995,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 533.0% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 52,869 shares of the airline's stock valued at $1,777,000 after acquiring an additional 44,517 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,450 shares of the airline's stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:LUV traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $31.85. The company had a trading volume of 10,132,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,266,079. 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 $18.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.40 and a 200 day moving average of $31.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.27%. Southwest Airlines's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.36) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director David P. Hess purchased 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,156 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $614,097.12. This trade represents a 47.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the purchase, the director now owns 14,881 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $406,102.49. This trade represents a 32.74% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the company from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Melius Research upgraded Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Melius raised Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.88.

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.