Melius Research Upgrades Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) to Hold

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) was upgraded by analysts at Melius Research from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $34.00 price target on the airline’s stock, up from their prior price target of $28.00. Melius Research’s price target points to a potential downside of 2.42% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday. Melius upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.52.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.0 %

LUV opened at $34.84 on Thursday. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.16 and a 200-day moving average of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.9% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth $2,963,000. Vista Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $614,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 23.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,945,000 after purchasing an additional 19,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at $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.