Studio Investment Management LLC Purchases 343 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Studio Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV stock opened at $31.97 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $30.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.63. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.78.

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.