Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Has $2.23 Million Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 65,473 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,354 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 16,293 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at about $2,963,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $614,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $30.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.74.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price target (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Company Profile

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.