Quantbot Technologies LP Grows Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 177.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,042 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,891 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $3,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 8,781 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 55,730 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3,949.1% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,535 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 4,423 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $28.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.39 and a 200 day moving average of $28.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.30, a PEG ratio of 27.22 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

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.