Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Given New $40.00 Price Target at Raymond James

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective boosted by Raymond James from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on LUV. Susquehanna increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.96.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.4 %

LUV opened at $33.56 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -479.43, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.70. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during 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 period. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 11.5% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 8.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,918 shares of the airline’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.