Southwest Airlines - LUV Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Southwest Airlines shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of February 28th, investors have sold 10,090,000 shares of LUV short. 1.71% of Southwest Airlines' shares are currently sold short. Learn More on Southwest Airlines' current short interest.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. LUV shares currently have a short interest ratio of 2.0. Learn More on Southwest Airlines's short interest ratio.

As of the most recent reporting period, the following institutional investors, funds, and major shareholders have reported short positions of Southwest Airlines: Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P., Natixis, Point72 Middle East FZE, Jane Street Group LLC, Sculptor Capital LP, Squarepoint Ops LLC, Millennium Management LLC, Boothbay Fund Management LLC, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Susquehanna International Group LLP, Two Sigma Investments LP, DLD Asset Management LP, Natixis, Twin Tree Management LP, Barclays PLC, Capital Fund Management S.A., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp DE, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC, Group One Trading L.P., IMC Chicago LLC, UBS Group AG, Cutler Group LLC CA, Simplex Trading LLC, Bank of Montreal Can, and Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc.. These positions are disclosed in Form 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 1.71% of Southwest Airlines' floating shares are currently sold short.

Southwest Airlines saw a increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totaling 10,090,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the previous total of 9,550,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

Southwest Airlines currently has issued a total of 594,290,000 shares. Some of Southwest Airlines' outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. Southwest Airlines currently has a public float of 591,160,000 shares.

1.71% of Southwest Airlines' shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sector of "transportation" compare to Southwest Airlines: United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (4.37%), Delta Air Lines, Inc. (3.41%), Alaska Air Group, Inc. (2.74%), Ryanair Holdings plc (0.34%), American Airlines Group Inc. (9.64%), J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (2.51%), Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Co. (0.87%), Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (5.45%), ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (3.20%), and C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (11.81%).

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Suncor Energy Inc. ($3.27 billion), Occidental Petroleum Co. ($2.77 billion), Coinbase Global, Inc. ($2.25 billion), T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. ($2.23 billion), Paramount Global ($1.92 billion), Etsy, Inc. ($1.75 billion), Voya Financial, Inc. ($1.74 billion), CarMax, Inc. ($1.62 billion), Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. ($1.62 billion), and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ($1.39 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling LUV is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Southwest Airlines as its price is falling. LUV shares are trading up $0.96 today. To short a stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that a stock will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for Southwest Airlines occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of LUV, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including LUV, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is February, 28 2023.