Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Decreases Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH decreased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 43.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,240,723 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 949,532 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned about 0.22% of Southwest Airlines worth $41,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at $369,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 8.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,712 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.2% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 22,428 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $753,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% in the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 11,644 shares of the airline’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 2,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter valued at about $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LUV. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director David P. Hess purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 23,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $614,097.12. This trade represents a 47.90% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,881 shares in the company, valued at $406,102.49. This represents a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 11,670 shares of company stock valued at $314,794 in the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 2.5%

LUV stock opened at $33.50 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.36) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.71%.

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.