Janus Henderson Group PLC Purchases 11,600 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 37,793 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,600 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 467,200 shares of the airline’s stock worth $13,843,000 after buying an additional 60,500 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $759,000. Appian Way Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth $4,238,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 27.9% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 58,161 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,723,000 after purchasing an additional 12,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 68,470 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 5,107 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $33.01 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.71 and its 200 day moving average is $29.22. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $19.80 billion, a PE ratio of -471.57, a PEG ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

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.