Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC reduced its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,096 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,210 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.0% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,412 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pflug Koory LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 17,456 shares of the airline’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. HSBC initiated coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $27.80 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Melius reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $28.91 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.57. The company has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a PE ratio of 45.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 24.83 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

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.