M&T Bank Corp Grows Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,908 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,471 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 374.0% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Motco boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 151.0% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other 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. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.24.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $27.00 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $29.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.63. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.86, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.27) EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

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.