Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires Shares of 8,853 Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,853 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 197.8% in the 4th quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP now owns 24,894 shares of the airline's stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 16,534 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 2,391,495 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 44,930 shares of the airline's stock valued at $1,511,000 after buying an additional 7,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2,857.9% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,013,657 shares of the airline's stock valued at $34,079,000 after buying an additional 979,388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $406,102.49. This trade represents a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David P. Hess bought 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 23,156 shares of the company's stock, valued at $614,097.12. This trade represents a 47.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:LUV traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.47. 7,044,502 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,073,632. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $18.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.18. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $29.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.09.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.36) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines's payout ratio is 84.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Melius raised Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group cut their price target on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.59.

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.