Centaurus Financial Inc. Purchases 1,769 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,055 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 188,347 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after buying an additional 35,996 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 10,756 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 26.0% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth about $85,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 244.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,487 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 81,987 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of 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. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $32.36 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -462.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.75.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

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.