Quantinno Capital Management LP Sells 92,151 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Quantinno Capital Management LP cut its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 65.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,010 shares of the airline’s stock after selling 92,151 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $1,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock worth $100,080,000 after purchasing an additional 46,110 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $48,551,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Four research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $33.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -479.43, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.