Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV – Free Report) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,361 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 247.5% in the first quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 702 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 75.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In other news, EVP Ryan C. Green sold 4,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.94, for a total transaction of $147,783.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,248.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LUV shares. Raymond James cut Southwest Airlines from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Southwest Airlines from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. 22nd Century Group restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Southwest Airlines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America cut Southwest Airlines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.29.
Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.1 %
NYSE LUV opened at $33.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.22. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $28.40 and a 12 month high of $40.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The airline reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $7.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.98 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.81% and a net margin of 2.31%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 21st were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 20th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 81.82%.
Southwest Airlines Company Profile
Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated a total fleet of 770 Boeing 737 aircrafts; 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.
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