Financial Counselors Inc. Has $529,000 Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Financial Counselors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,723 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 1,359 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth $167,000. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth about $85,262,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,919,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $155,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,308,146,000 after buying an additional 426,878 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on LUV shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased 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. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.54.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $33.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a PE ratio of 46.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.33 and a 200-day moving average of $31.53. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.