Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 667,731 shares of the airline's stock after selling 10,107 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Southwest Airlines worth $22,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWC Advisors LLC. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 13,310 shares of the airline's stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,161 shares of the airline's stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 12,853 shares of the airline's stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 buying an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 34,189 shares of the airline's stock worth $1,148,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director David P. Hess bought 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.52 per share, with a total value of $198,900.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 23,156 shares in the company, valued at $614,097.12. This trade represents a 47.90% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the purchase, the director owned 14,881 shares in the company, valued at $406,102.49. The trade was a 32.74% 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 company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.28. The company had a trading volume of 5,208,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,293,984. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $32.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $37.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.24 billion, a PE ratio of 43.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.36) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio is currently 84.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.81.

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.