Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Stock Position Raised by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,795 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,074 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after buying an additional 1,372,305 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at $21,573,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 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 $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $32.36 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of -462.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

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.