Financial Counselors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Financial Counselors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,816 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 91,675.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,296,139 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $515,021,000 after buying an additional 15,279,472 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,991,802 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $715,615,000 after buying an additional 6,244,136 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 106.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,556,536 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $69,205,000 after buying an additional 1,318,361 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,210,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,213,320 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $613,243,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269,782 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 3.4 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $27.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.48 billion, a PE ratio of 36.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.43. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.38) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 96.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on LUV. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.82.

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.