Czech National Bank Has $3.26 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 8.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 114,041 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,051 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after buying an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,792,914,000 after acquiring an additional 7,946,199 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after acquiring an additional 47,119 shares in the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 460,480 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 111,190 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LUV. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $27.80 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Melius reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.47.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV traded up $0.25 during trading on Monday, reaching $25.58. 2,256,251 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,569,683. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $15.33 billion, a PE ratio of 40.21, a PEG ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.90. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18.

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 return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

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.