Analysts Set Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Target Price at $30.61

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.61.

LUV has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.47 and its 200-day moving average is $29.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.34 billion, a PE ratio of -484.43, a P/E/G ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Highland Peak Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,963,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at about $1,751,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Company 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.