Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Holdings Trimmed by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. lessened its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 36.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,834 shares of the airline's stock after selling 19,035 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LUV. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline's stock valued at $1,108,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,896,150 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 1,327.7% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,840,529 shares of the airline's stock valued at $95,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641,564 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $85,262,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline's stock valued at $202,219,000 after purchasing an additional 2,391,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $57,724,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director David P. Hess purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.52 per share, with a total value of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 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. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $34.60. 9,785,421 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,257,905. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.10. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $19.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th 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 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.71%.

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.