Penserra Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Penserra Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 22.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,697 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 6,952 shares during the quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.3 %

LUV opened at $32.36 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $30.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -462.29, a PEG ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price 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. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.25.

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.