New Mexico Educational Retirement Board reduced its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV – Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,504 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 247.5% in the first quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 702 shares of the airline’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. 75.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 22nd Century Group reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Southwest Airlines from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.29.
Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.1 %
LUV stock opened at $33.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $28.40 and a 52-week high of $40.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.19.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The airline reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 5.81%. The company had revenue of $7.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.
Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 21st were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.82%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines
In other news, EVP Ryan C. Green sold 4,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.94, for a total transaction of $147,783.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,248.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.
About Southwest Airlines
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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