CENTRAL TRUST Co Has $260,000 Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

CENTRAL TRUST Co reduced its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,730 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,355 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LUV. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,963,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $614,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $30.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.93 and a 200-day moving average of $30.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.08.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.