Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 56.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,244 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 51,204 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Motco grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 151.0% during the third quarter. Motco now owns 1,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI restated an “inline” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $27.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.34, a PEG 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $30.48 and its 200-day moving average price 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 (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.27) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. 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.