KPP Advisory Services LLC Buys 1,029 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,586 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,029 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wallace Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 58.2% in the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 11,275 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 4,150 shares in the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth about $458,000. Creative Planning increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 265,150 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after buying an additional 13,525 shares during the last quarter. Alethea Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $500,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,478,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.75.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $29.88 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $27.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.88. The firm has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.43, a P/E/G ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 1.16. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.