WINTON GROUP Ltd Trims Stock Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

WINTON GROUP Ltd lessened its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 61.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,360 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 33,993 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $28.44 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The stock has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 45.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 27.22 and a beta of 1.16. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.06.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on LUV. Melius restated a “sell” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.