Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. UBS Group currently has $36.00 price objective on the airline’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $29.00.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on LUV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 target price (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $34.84 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.38. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 16,293 shares during the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,963,000. Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $614,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,945,000 after acquiring an additional 19,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,751,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.