New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Takes Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 162,567 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $5,466,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at about $212,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 93,961 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 7,676 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 38,795 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after buying an additional 4,074 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth approximately $233,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth $247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $33.58 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a PE ratio of 46.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on LUV. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Melius raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Melius Research upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.