Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by World Investment Advisors LLC

World Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,894 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.36. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. 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 has a market cap of $19.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -468.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.37.

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.