Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Buys Shares of 9,800 Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,800 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 374.0% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 82.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $26.93 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.73 and its 200 day moving average is $29.14. 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 has a market capitalization of $16.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 19.96 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Five investment 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.50.

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.