nVerses Capital LLC Makes New $1.08 Million Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 36,400 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $1,079,000. Southwest Airlines accounts for 0.5% of nVerses Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,792,914,000 after purchasing an additional 7,946,199 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,435 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $45,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,305 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV traded down $0.67 during trading on Thursday, reaching $30.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,323,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,388,284. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The firm has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.76 and a 200-day moving average of $28.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90.

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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.