Kercheville Advisors LLC Has $2.26 Million Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Kercheville Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,120 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 20,500 shares during the quarter. Southwest Airlines makes up about 1.0% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.4 %

LUV opened at $29.43 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.71, a PEG ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $35.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.11.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.