Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 608.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $107,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.2% in the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,918 shares of the airline’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.7% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 57,976 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.4% during the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,487 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -471.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.82.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

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.