Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Stock Rating Lowered by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) from a hold rating to an underperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $20.00 target price on the airline’s stock, down from their prior target price of $28.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on LUV. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an inline rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a buy rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $30.71.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $26.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $16.06 billion, a PE ratio of 42.60, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.20 and a 200 day moving average of $28.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.09. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.27) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 374.0% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 82.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.