Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Boosts Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. $LUV

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 145.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 212,119 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 125,865 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $6,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.6% during the first quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 49,688,308 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,668,533,000 after purchasing an additional 788,255 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,602,939 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $120,987,000 after purchasing an additional 136,410 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 12.7% during the first quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 2,857,308 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $95,948,000 after purchasing an additional 321,258 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at $56,244,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at $50,433,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sarah Feinberg acquired 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.01 per share, for a total transaction of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 14,229 shares in the company, valued at $427,012.29. The trade was a 11.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $100,450.35. Following the acquisition, the director owned 23,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,029.32. This represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV stock opened at $32.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.61, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.75. Southwest Airlines Co. has a one year low of $23.82 and a one year high of $37.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 6.39%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the airline to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 110.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $33.38.

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.