Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 10.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,131 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,486 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of LUV. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,412 shares of the airline’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $29.04 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $27.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.99.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LUV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.38.

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.