Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,500 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $151,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 15.7% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,497 shares of the airline’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,422 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after buying an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2,299.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 116,238 shares of the airline’s stock worth $3,444,000 after acquiring an additional 111,394 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth approximately $1,611,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 98.4% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 29,222 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,494 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $30.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.94 billion, a PE ratio of 42.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 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, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 target price (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.78.

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.