Weiss Asset Management LP Purchases New Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 17,806 shares of the airline's stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline's stock worth $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline's stock worth $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,963,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,751,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents 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.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.4 %

Southwest Airlines stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.44. The stock had a trading volume of 6,558,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,109,730. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $31.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.07. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.06 billion, a PE ratio of -477.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released 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. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines's payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on LUV shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.61.

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.