Cibc World Markets Corp Purchases 19,173 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 34.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 74,290 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 19,173 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock worth $107,359,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,466,529 shares of the airline’s stock worth $116,545,000 after acquiring an additional 88,869 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 3,457,661 shares of the airline’s stock worth $116,247,000 after acquiring an additional 56,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,190,255 shares of the airline’s stock worth $73,636,000 after acquiring an additional 133,366 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LUV. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price target (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.52.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $34.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

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.