Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 30,620 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 71% compared to the typical volume of 17,925 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. UBS Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $33.66. The stock had a trading volume of 5,484,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,478,489. Southwest Airlines 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 current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.31. The firm has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.74, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors 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 2.14%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LUV. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 87,362 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 8.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,918 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $146,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,963,000. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $245,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.