Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock Position Lifted by MBM Wealth Consultants LLC

MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,352 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 1,676 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $212,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 15.6% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 26,661 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $763,000 after acquiring an additional 3,591 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 40.4% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,908 shares of the airline’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 7,173 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 82.1% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 61,430 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 27,700 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 82,679 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,365,000 after acquiring an additional 6,721 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $29.50 price target (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.31.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $33.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.18. The company has a market cap of $19.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -475.96, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

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.