Brown Financial Advisors Sells 2,189 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Brown Financial Advisors cut its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,730 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 2,189 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in 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 report on Monday, December 30th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $29.50 price target (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.78.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $30.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $17.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.93, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.91.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast 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 paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 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.