Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 15,905 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.9%, now holding 122,303 shares valued at approximately $4.1 million as of its latest filing.
• Southwest Airlines announced a $2 billion share repurchase plan, allowing it to buy back up to 9.4% of its outstanding shares, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The airline reported a quarterly earnings miss with EPS of $0.43, which was below the consensus estimate of $0.51, and experienced a year-over-year revenue decline of 2.1%.

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 14.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,303 shares of the airline's stock after acquiring an additional 15,905 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CWC Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 13,310 shares of the airline's stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 16,301 shares of the airline's stock valued at $547,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,161 shares of the airline's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 16,998 shares of the airline's stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,101 shares of the airline's stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $33.06.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV traded down $0.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.70. 8,834,974 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,687,240. The company has a market cap of $15.60 billion, a PE ratio of 44.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.82 and a fifty-two week high of $37.96. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $33.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.24.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The airline reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.30 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 6.27%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the airline to buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.09%.

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.