Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 919 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,378 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Pandora Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 67.8% during the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,448 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,787 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $33.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sarah Feinberg bought 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $30.01 per share, for a total transaction of $45,015.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 14,229 shares in the company, valued at $427,012.29. This represents a 11.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $100,450.35. Following the purchase, the director owned 23,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,029.32. This represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.6%

LUV opened at $32.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.82 and a fifty-two week high of $37.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.37 and its 200 day moving average is $31.65. The stock has a market cap of $16.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 6.39%. The firm had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 109.09%.

Southwest Airlines announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the airline to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Southwest Airlines 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.