OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,243 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 14.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,113 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,243 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,305 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,107,507 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $31,686,000 after acquiring an additional 14,017 shares during the period. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,573,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.6 %

LUV stock opened at $31.97 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The stock has a market cap of $19.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -456.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $30.59 and its 200 day moving average is $28.63.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.78.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

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

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.