Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Cut to $27.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price target decreased by UBS Group from $36.00 to $27.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the airline’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Melius raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.43.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $25.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $15.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.60.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,308,146,000 after purchasing an additional 426,878 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,108,750,000 after buying an additional 2,896,150 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $475,092,000 after acquiring an additional 320,421 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline’s stock worth $205,476,000 after acquiring an additional 372,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 66.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline’s stock worth $202,219,000 after acquiring an additional 2,391,495 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is 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.