Centaurus Financial Inc. Has $209,000 Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,055 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,769 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV stock opened at $32.36 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -462.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.80 and its 200-day moving average is $28.75.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.