Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Raised to $33.00 at Sanford C. Bernstein

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the airline’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target suggests a potential downside of 0.72% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on LUV. Citigroup upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $33.24 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The company has a market cap of $19.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -479.43, a P/E/G ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LUV. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $932,894,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504,201 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock worth $107,359,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111,946 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.