Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,531 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,514 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock worth $10,929,000 after purchasing an additional 103,834 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock worth $14,635,000 after buying an additional 124,054 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline’s stock worth $83,299,000 after acquiring an additional 23,715 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $22,506,000 after acquiring an additional 163,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Resource Council increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 14,826 shares of the airline’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 5,178 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $27.26 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $30.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.53. The stock has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a PE ratio of 36.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.27) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 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.