Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Shares Up 2.5% on Insider Buying Activity

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)’s stock price rose 2.5% during trading on Thursday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock traded as high as $30.95 and last traded at $30.31. Approximately 1,414,422 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 9,534,279 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.57.

Specifically, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on LUV. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.21.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.93. The firm has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.60, a PEG ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 1.17.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 114.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,990 shares of the airline’s stock worth $3,065,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 14.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Polianta Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,223,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,931,000 after buying an additional 20,694 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,419,000 after buying an additional 64,284 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.