Trexquant Investment LP Buys Shares of 116,891 Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 116,891 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $3,376,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock worth $10,929,000 after purchasing an additional 103,834 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,635,000 after acquiring an additional 124,054 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter valued at $1,069,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline’s stock worth $83,299,000 after purchasing an additional 23,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $22,506,000 after purchasing an additional 163,544 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.10.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $26.65 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.94. The company has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.30, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.09. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.27) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

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.