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

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.61.

LUV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LUV. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 244.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,487 shares of the airline’s stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 81,987 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 98.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 30,360 shares of the airline’s stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 15,041 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.8% during the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,370 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth about $119,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 13,766 shares of the airline’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,879 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $34.17 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.29 and a 200-day moving average of $28.97. The company has a market capitalization of $20.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -488.14, a P/E/G ratio of 7.70 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

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.