Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Shares Sold by Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas lessened its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 76.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,869 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 32,144 shares during the period. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Motco lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 151.0% during the 3rd quarter. Motco now owns 1,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Raymond James raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $29.61. 4,958,789 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,288,243. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $17.71 billion, a PE ratio of 39.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.52. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.38) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

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.