Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $530,000 Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 20.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,365 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 3,079 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LUV. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,383 shares of the airline’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 82.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,115 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 4.3% in the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the airline’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.24.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of LUV opened at $27.19 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.16, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.27) EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.