Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $166.74 Million Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 1,034,496 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.97% of Southwest Airlines worth $166,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,544,387,000 after purchasing an additional 9,444,279 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $29,789,000. Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth $21,573,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth $10,071,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.3 %

LUV opened at $29.04 on Friday. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.04. The stock has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.10, a PEG ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LUV. Melius reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued 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 an average price target of $28.38.

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.