SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Buys 2,117 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 92.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,407 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,117 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LUV. Raymond James upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $29.94 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.10. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of 41.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Southwest Airlines 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.