Provident Trust Co. Raises Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Provident Trust Co. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,599,210 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 460,480 shares during the period. Southwest Airlines accounts for 4.5% of Provident Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $219,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $10,929,000 after purchasing an additional 103,834 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,635,000 after purchasing an additional 124,054 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $83,299,000 after purchasing an additional 23,715 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $22,506,000 after purchasing an additional 163,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Resource Council boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 14,826 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 5,178 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV traded down $0.23 on Friday, reaching $27.03. The stock had a trading volume of 16,106,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,102,757. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $39.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.53. The company has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.27) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued 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 2.66%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.18.

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.