Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Makes New Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,561 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position 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 worth $1,889,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised 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 worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $30.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.97 and its 200 day moving average is $28.06. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year 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 cap of $18.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.17, a PEG ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.17.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on LUV. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced 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 note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.33.

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.