MBM Wealth Consultants LLC Increases Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

MBM Wealth Consultants LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,352 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,676 shares during the quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 60.6% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,770 shares of the airline’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price target (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of LUV opened at $33.32 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.18. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $19.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -475.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.