Venturi Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,450 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,770 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $29.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $32.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.82. The stock has a market cap of $17.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.38, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.