Leibman Financial Services Inc. Has $4.67 Million Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Leibman Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 157,445 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,594 shares during the period. Southwest Airlines accounts for 3.3% of Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased 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. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.21.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $30.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The company has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.68, a P/E/G ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.94.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

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.