Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC Sells 842 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 37.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,412 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 842 shares during the quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $47,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Everpar Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $243,000. Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 26,520 shares of the airline’s stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 5,097 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 130,035 shares of the airline’s stock worth $4,372,000 after purchasing an additional 7,981 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LUV. Bank of America restated 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. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $32.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.13. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The company has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -459.90, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.