Neuberger Berman Group LLC recently announced a 16.7% decrease in its stake in Southwest Airlines Co. The announcement comes after the institutional investor sold 14,650 shares of the airline’s stock during the fourth quarter of this year. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 72,850 shares of Southwest Airlines’ stock—representing a worth of $2,453,000 as per its recent SEC filing.
Several research analysts have also shared their opinions on the company’s standing. In May, StockNews.com gave Southwest Airlines a “hold” rating while other analysts rated it as either “neutral” or “equal weight.” With nine analysts giving it a “hold” rating and one analyst giving it a strong buy rating, the company has an average consensus rating of “Hold” with an average target price of $44.71.
Despite these ratings, Southwest Airlines’ latest trading figures depict volatile results for investors to consider. On June 12th, shares traded at $31.64 with a trading volume of 3,631,118 shares. While this represents an increase in value when compared to other lows such as its twelve-month low of $28.40, it is still significantly lower than the company’s twelve-month high valued at $41.76.
It is prudent to note that Southwest Airlines has maintained a solid financial position within this period against industry headwinds brought about by COVID-19 restrictions and reduced air travel demand. Data from Bloomberg places the company’s market cap at $18.83 billion and gives it a PE ratio of 30.62—which stands impressive despite decreasing profits experienced across various industries because of ongoing economic challenges.
Southwest operates over 4,000 departures every day during peak travel season across shared destinations globally while maintaining strict policies regarding passenger safety amidst the pandemic health concerns and regulations which protect both customers and employees.
As we navigate into more uncertain times, it is noteworthy to observe how institutional investors are reacting and assessing the value of companies like Southwest Airlines. Investors should critically evaluate trends and patterns to make informed investment decisions for capital preservation amidst a volatile market with numerous headwinds—including inflation, political turbulence, pandemic uncertainty and others.
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Analyzing Southwest Airlines’ Recent Holdings and Performance Results
Southwest Airlines: A Look at Recent Holdings and Analysis
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has seen some changes in its holdings recently, as institutional investors and hedge funds have modified their investments in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC reported a 2.5% increase in its holdings during Q4 by acquiring an additional 285,836 shares, making the total number of Southwest Airline shares it now owns reach 11,892,153 with a market value of $399,914,000. Cipher Capital LP also acquired new positions with the airline in Q4 worth approximately $1.9 million.
On another note, Ryan C. Green, the EVP of Southwest Airlines recently sold 4,936 shares estimated to be worth around $147,783.84 at an average price of $29.94 per share on Tuesday May 2nd earlier this year.
Although institutional investors like Geode Capital Management LLC and Cipher Capital LP have been increasing their stakes in Southwest Airlines lately some research analysts had previously downgraded Southwest due to underwhelming recent earnings results that were released this April showing a loss for Q1 which the company had missed analyst expectations by six cents EPS. As expected this resulted in drawing out unwelcome assessments from leading market research agencies such as Melius who rated these stocks “neutral” with a target price of $39USD while Barclay’s lowered from “overweight” to “equal weight”.
Furthermore Bloomberg reports that there are currently only sixteen equities analysts holding coverage on SouthWest with nine rating it as hold five having placed buy ratings and one rating it as strong buy stock.
Despite these setbacks however projections reported indicate that Southwest Airline Co will still make earnings per share around 2.62USD over the course of this year.
Moreover dividend payments seem to be stable with those holding shares before end-of-day June 21st receiving approximately $0.18 per share; calculated to yield about 2.28% annually on an ex-dividend date of June 20th. Southwest Airlines has a current payout ratio of 72%, which is considered consistent with their industry standards.
Overall, the recent performance reports indicate that Southwest Airline Co seems to be experiencing some fluctuations in the short term however their long-term prospects remain promising as shown with their current trajectory towards profitability. An ample balance sheet and strategic decisions taken by top brass are likely to rectify the stockholder concerns raised earlier this year.
