Hedges Asset Management LLC Has $4.60 Million Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Hedges Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 136,700 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. Southwest Airlines accounts for approximately 3.0% of Hedges Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Hedges Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,946 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after buying an additional 46,110 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,190,255 shares of the airline’s stock worth $73,636,000 after buying an additional 133,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.31.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of LUV opened at $32.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.23.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

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.