Stifel Financial Corp Sells 12,996 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Stifel Financial Corp trimmed its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 7.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 159,186 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 12,996 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $4,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $33,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on LUV shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.02 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -471.71, a PEG ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.27. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued 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 business had revenue of $6.87 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.