Alpha Wealth Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Alpha Wealth Funds LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 19,000 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $638,000. Southwest Airlines makes up approximately 0.6% of Alpha Wealth Funds LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 196.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 90.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were 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 represents a 32.74% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Melius Research raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.53.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE LUV traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $33.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,813,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,193,375. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $29.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.13. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $19.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.18. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. The firm 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 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.36) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.71%.

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.