Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.61.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna lifted 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 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, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $34.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.97. The firm has a market cap of $20.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -488.14, a PEG ratio of 7.70 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,028.57%.

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.