XTX Topco Ltd Acquires 21,571 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 224.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,180 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 21,571 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 43,238 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,222,000 after buying an additional 7,814 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 17.0% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 193,732 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $5,543,000 after acquiring an additional 28,172 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 120.8% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 75,339 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,155,000 after acquiring an additional 41,224 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 177.7% in the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 117,042 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,349,000 after acquiring an additional 74,891 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.38.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV opened at $29.04 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a PE ratio of 46.10, a P/E/G ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released 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. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

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

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.