Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Raised to $24.00

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underperform rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on LUV. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a hold rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $29.21.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $31.25 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.93. The company has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.60, a P/E/G ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,544,387,000 after purchasing an additional 9,444,279 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after buying an additional 2,148,435 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,551,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,372,305 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by 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.