Public Sector Pension Investment Board Increases Stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 16.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 81,845 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,517 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $2,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,544,387,000 after acquiring an additional 9,444,279 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after buying an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,573,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.3 %

LUV stock opened at $29.53 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $27.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.87, a PEG ratio of 27.03 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.38.

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.