Axiom Advisory LLC Buys 375 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 33,125 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Credit Capital Investments LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 50.7% in the fourth quarter. Credit Capital Investments LLC now owns 20,819 shares of the airline’s stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, Pacific Center for Financial Services raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services now owns 2,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $30.67 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of 49.51, a P/E/G ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.94.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.21.

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.