Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.38.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 374.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $28.68 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $27.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.57. The stock has a market cap of $17.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 24.83 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.23 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

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.