Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 26,202 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 40% compared to the typical volume of 18,729 put options.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,308,146,000 after buying an additional 426,878 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,108,750,000 after acquiring an additional 2,896,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline’s stock worth $475,092,000 after acquiring an additional 320,421 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline’s stock worth $205,476,000 after purchasing an additional 372,313 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $202,219,000 after purchasing an additional 2,391,495 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price target (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.94 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.50. The firm has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a PE ratio of 47.13, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year 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.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. Analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

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.