Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 29,345 put options on the company. This is an increase of 30% compared to the typical daily volume of 22,657 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 2,403.8% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,120,368 shares of the airline’s stock worth $328,305,000 after buying an additional 9,716,160 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 43.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,335,167 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $393,615,000 after acquiring an additional 3,753,183 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at about $62,340,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth about $56,244,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,218,086 shares of the airline’s stock worth $389,879,000 after buying an additional 1,459,235 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock traded down $0.58 on Wednesday, reaching $41.59. 4,584,898 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,924,301. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.51 billion, a PE ratio of 63.97, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.92 and a 200 day moving average of $33.08. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $23.82 and a 52 week high of $43.54.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 6.39%. The firm had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Barclays raised Southwest Airlines from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.59.

Get Our Latest Report on LUV

About Southwest Airlines

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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.

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