Avior Wealth Management LLC Has $416,000 Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,416 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 1,593 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,028,745 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,886,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,767 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,991,802 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $715,615,000 after purchasing an additional 6,244,136 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,213,320 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $613,243,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269,782 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 91,675.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,296,139 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $515,021,000 after purchasing an additional 15,279,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,237,288 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $397,599,000 after purchasing an additional 345,135 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $29.06 on Friday. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.46.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.38) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 2.48%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 96.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.82.

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.