Readystate Asset Management LP Acquires New Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 20,974 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 247.5% in the first quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 702 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 374.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 82.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $29.06. The company had a trading volume of 7,439,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,376,733. The firm has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.89 and a 200-day moving average of $28.46. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $39.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.25. The company 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 revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.38) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target 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 target for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna cut their price objective 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines 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.