Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.33.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,792,914,000 after buying an additional 7,946,199 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at approximately $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,590,298 shares of the airline’s stock worth $45,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372,305 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $30.08 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The firm has a market cap of $18.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.75, a PEG ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.17.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

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.