Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Sells 12,684 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp reduced its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,416 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 12,684 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Motco raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 151.0% in the third quarter. Motco now owns 1,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth about $75,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $27.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $16.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.34, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.53. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.76.

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.