Versant Capital Management Inc Grows Holdings in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,412 shares of the airline’s stock after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $40,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 29,493 shares of the airline’s stock worth $844,000 after acquiring an additional 4,777 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 43.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,724 shares of the airline’s stock worth $192,000 after acquiring an additional 2,044 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $592,000. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 98.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 30,360 shares of the airline’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 15,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 244.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,487 shares of the airline’s stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 81,987 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Melius reissued a “sell” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.39.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $24.69. 1,049,007 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,505,804. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.02. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The stock has a market cap of $14.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders 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 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

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.