Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Oldfield Partners LLP

Oldfield Partners LLP lowered its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 22.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,895,100 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 543,000 shares during the period. Southwest Airlines comprises approximately 10.2% of Oldfield Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Oldfield Partners LLP’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $54,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,889,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,412 shares of the airline’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LUV. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $28.68 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $35.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.52, a PEG ratio of 27.22 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

About Southwest Airlines

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.