Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Given New $33.00 Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $30.00 to $33.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the airline’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target points to a potential downside of 1.96% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on LUV. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE LUV traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $33.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,661,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,086,297. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.54 and a 200 day moving average of $29.12. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -481.00, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.