Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 29.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 107,080 shares of the airline's stock after selling 44,525 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the second quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 1,258,993 shares of the airline's stock valued at $40,842,000 after buying an additional 18,270 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at $530,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 10.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 63,625 shares of the airline's stock valued at $2,137,000 after buying an additional 5,981 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at $313,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.5% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 548,423 shares of the airline's stock valued at $17,791,000 after buying an additional 23,381 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sarah Feinberg purchased 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $30.01 per share, for a total transaction of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 14,229 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $427,012.29. The trade was a 11.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 approximately $710,029.32. This trade represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $32.49 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.82 and a twelve month high of $37.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.06 billion, a PE ratio of 49.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.50.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.08). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.27% and a net margin of 1.43%.The business had revenue of $7.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. Southwest Airlines's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines's payout ratio is currently 109.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.

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