Analysts Set Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) PT at $30.33

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.33.

LUV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Susquehanna increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $609,000. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,990 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,065,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 595 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 26.0% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 100,351 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 493,954 shares of the airline’s stock worth $14,419,000 after acquiring an additional 64,284 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 3.0 %

LUV stock opened at $30.98 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.97 and a 200-day moving average of $28.06. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company has a market capitalization of $18.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.17, a PEG ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.17. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 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.