Oakworth Capital Inc. Sells 583 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Oakworth Capital Inc. lowered its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,373 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 583 shares during the quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $97,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 247.5% during the first quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 702 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at $33,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at $36,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $28.87 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $17.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.46.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released 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. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.38) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.00%.

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.