Financial Partners Group LLC Sells 4,989 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Financial Partners Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,689 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 4,989 shares during the quarter. Financial Partners Group LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LUV. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on LUV. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.8 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.11 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.23.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.