Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Increased to $32.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective increased by Barclays from $27.00 to $32.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a hold rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a strong sell rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $30.33.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $30.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.41, a P/E/G ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.