Xponance Inc. Sells 1,963 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Xponance Inc. cut its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,920 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,963 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LUV. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 106.5% during the third quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,556,536 shares of the airline’s stock worth $69,205,000 after buying an additional 1,318,361 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock worth $179,355,000 after buying an additional 1,238,468 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $13,193,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.9% during the third quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,619,499 shares of the airline’s stock worth $43,840,000 after buying an additional 418,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth about $10,277,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $29.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.79 billion, a PE ratio of 39.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.52. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced 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. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.38) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 96.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays reduced their target price on 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. Evercore ISI reissued an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.82.

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.