Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Stock

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective increased by stock analysts at Barclays from $32.00 to $35.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the airline’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.40% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on LUV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a 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. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.61.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $34.18 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $36.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.01. The company has a market cap of $20.50 billion, a PE ratio of -488.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 244.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,487 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after buying an additional 81,987 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 98.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 30,360 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 15,041 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 4.8% in the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,370 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $119,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 13,766 shares of the airline’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,879 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.