ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC Buys 60,500 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 14.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 467,200 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,500 shares during the period. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $13,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $33.00 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.82.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on LUV. Susquehanna upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.25.

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.