Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped 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. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $30.30 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.46 and its 200-day moving average is $28.13. The stock has a market cap of $18.15 billion, a PE ratio of -432.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,028.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Capital World Investors grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 14.9% during the 1st 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. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.