Global Retirement Partners LLC Sells 427 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Global Retirement Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,462 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 427 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $609,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock worth $14,419,000 after acquiring an additional 64,284 shares during the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $764,000. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $592,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $30.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.07. The company has a market cap of $18.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 234.17, a PEG ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 553.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LUV. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, 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 is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines 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.