Corient Private Wealth LLC Purchases 30,754 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 25.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 152,900 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,754 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $5,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 90.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,770 shares of the airline’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on LUV. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $29.50 price target (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $34.84 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.