Weekly Research Analysts’ Ratings Changes for Southwest Airlines (LUV)

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has recently received a number of price target changes and ratings updates:

• 12/11/2024 – Southwest Airlines had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Morgan Stanley. They now have a $42.00 price target on the stock.
• 12/11/2024 – Southwest Airlines had its price target raised by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $30.00 to $33.00. They now have a “market perform” rating on the stock.
• 12/6/2024 – Southwest Airlines had its price target raised by analysts at TD Cowen from $25.00 to $28.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 12/6/2024 – Southwest Airlines had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from $32.00 to $35.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 11/26/2024 – Southwest Airlines had its “sell” rating reaffirmed by analysts at UBS Group AG. They now have a $27.00 price target on the stock.
• 11/15/2024 – Southwest Airlines had its “sell” rating reaffirmed by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.. They now have a $28.00 price target on the stock.
• 11/4/2024 – Southwest Airlines is now covered by analysts at Bank of America Co.. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/28/2024 – Southwest Airlines was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $34.35 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.50. Southwest Airlines Co. has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $20.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -490.71, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.