Cerity Partners LLC Takes $692,000 Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,949 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 29,852 shares of the airline’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Visionary Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 4.3% in the third quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 11,391 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $29.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.62 billion, a PE ratio of 39.28, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.38) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

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.