Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Holdings Raised by Cibc World Markets Corp

Cibc World Markets Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 34.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,290 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,173 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 90.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,770 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Melius upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $34.16 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.13 and a 200-day moving average of $31.33. The company has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.45, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.