XTX Topco Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

XTX Topco Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 53.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,379 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 16,801 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of LUV opened at $33.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.24. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $19.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -471.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines 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.