Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lowered its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,870 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 792 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,544,387,000 after buying an additional 9,444,279 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares during the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 7,599,210 shares of the airline’s stock worth $219,465,000 after buying an additional 460,480 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock worth $179,355,000 after buying an additional 1,238,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,188,348 shares of the airline’s stock worth $92,079,000 after buying an additional 111,190 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $27.80 price objective for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.36.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $27.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.29. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.27) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.82 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 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.