Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,977 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock worth $100,080,000 after purchasing an additional 46,110 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the 3rd 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 period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of LUV opened at $32.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of -462.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.80 and a 200 day moving average of $28.75. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,028.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LUV. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.