Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP Has $837,000 Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP grew its position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 197.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,894 shares of the airline’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,534 shares during the period. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $202,219,000 after buying an additional 2,391,495 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 44,930 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 7,137 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2,857.9% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,013,657 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $34,079,000 after acquiring an additional 979,388 shares during the period. Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,904,000. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 336.0% during the fourth quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 108,765 shares of the airline’s stock worth $3,657,000 after acquiring an additional 83,818 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on LUV. Melius Research raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Melius upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.59.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $31.28 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a PE ratio of 43.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.18. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.05.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.36) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.71%.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director David P. Hess purchased 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,156 shares in the company, valued at $614,097.12. The trade was a 47.90% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944 over the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.