Cadence Bank Reduces Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cadence Bank decreased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,112 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 796 shares during the period. Cadence Bank’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,482,000. Sfmg LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at $1,057,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,945,000 after purchasing an additional 19,000 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 689,199 shares of the airline’s stock worth $20,421,000 after purchasing an additional 21,805 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LUV has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Melius Research upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.88.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $24.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a PE ratio of 34.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.28.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.