Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 99.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,271 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,124 shares during the quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LUV. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,792,914,000 after purchasing an additional 7,946,199 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after buying an additional 2,148,435 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth approximately $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after buying an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after buying an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.33.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.4 %

LUV opened at $30.93 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The company has a market capitalization of $18.51 billion, a PE ratio of 49.10, a PEG ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.03.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

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.