Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Takes Position in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,697,000 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $48,551,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $21,573,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.00.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $29.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.89. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.