JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target to $26.00

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on LUV. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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 lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV traded up $0.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.43. 9,321,783 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,424,932. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 46.71, a PEG ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced 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. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders 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 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 61,422,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,792,914,000 after buying an additional 7,946,199 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after buying an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $48,551,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 629.5% during the second 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.