Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Makes New $530,000 Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Key Points

• Contravisory Investment Management Inc. invested approximately $530,000 in Southwest Airlines, acquiring 16,336 shares in the 2nd quarter.
• Southwest Airlines recently had a quarterly dividend of $0.18 announced, with a yield of 2.2%, and a share repurchase plan of up to $2 billion authorized.
• Wall Street analysts have shown varying ratings on Southwest Airlines, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price of $33.38 per share.

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,336 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $530,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 72.5% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,950 shares of the airline's stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 44,930 shares of the airline's stock valued at $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 7,137 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 86,812 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,919,000 after acquiring an additional 10,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 63.7% during the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,175 shares of the airline's stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 7,464 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sarah Feinberg purchased 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.01 per share, with a total value of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 14,229 shares of the company's stock, valued at $427,012.29. The trade was a 11.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,345 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $100,450.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 23,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at $710,029.32. The trade was a 16.48% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of LUV traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,409,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,560,485. The business has a fifty day moving average of $32.41 and a 200 day moving average of $31.40. The company has a market cap of $17.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.19. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.82 and a 1 year high of $37.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.27% and a net margin of 1.43%.The company had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the airline to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio is 109.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $34.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. HSBC downgraded Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Southwest Airlines to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.38.

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.