Citigroup Cuts Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target to $23.00

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price target decreased by equities researchers at Citigroup from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the airline’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 11.01% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, January 17th. Melius Research raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Raymond James increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.88.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $25.85 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.90, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.40. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LUV. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,482,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,057,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares during the last quarter. 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.