National Bank of Canada FI Sells 334,025 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) by 62.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,965 shares of the airline's stock after selling 334,025 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $5,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline's stock worth $107,359,000 after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline's stock worth $100,080,000 after buying an additional 46,110 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,551,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. Barclays raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.37.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV traded down $0.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $33.02. 5,828,586 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,063,619. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.18. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.80 billion, a PE ratio of -474.86, a P/E/G ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. 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.