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

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas trimmed its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 76.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 8,245 shares of the airline’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 3,194 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 56.2% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 142,244 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $4,108,000 after acquiring an additional 51,204 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 31,575 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 831 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,672 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 1,196 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on LUV. Evercore ISI reiterated an “inline” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $29.61. The company had a trading volume of 4,958,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,288,243. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $17.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.38) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 96.00%.

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.