Versor Investments LP Invests $1.56 Million in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 46,513 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $1,564,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.5% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,422 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,435,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2,299.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 116,238 shares of the airline’s stock worth $3,444,000 after purchasing an additional 111,394 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,611,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 38,188 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after buying an additional 11,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at about $207,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $30.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.97 and a 200-day moving average of $30.94. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. Equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

Southwest Airlines 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.