Quantbot Technologies LP Has $5.62 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 62.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 189,763 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,721 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $5,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $120,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 34.9% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,607 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,775 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 23.6% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 188,347 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $5,498,000 after acquiring an additional 35,996 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 10,756 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth about $286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV opened at $31.96 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.72. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS 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 business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

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.