Vista Investment Partners LLC Invests $614,000 in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 18,262 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $614,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Studio Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.2% in the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,116 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 11.5% during the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the airline’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, TD Cowen increased 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.6 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -458.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.28.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Southwest Airlines

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.