Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Acquired by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,506 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,642 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.4 %

LUV stock opened at $30.10 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $17.84 billion, a PE ratio of 41.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LUV. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.72.

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.