Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Has $1.41 Million Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 75.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 47,715 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 149,474 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.7% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 57,976 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 35.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 51,395 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.5 %

LUV opened at $31.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.72. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company has a market cap of $19.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -456.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 1.15. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,028.57%.

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.