Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has received a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.72.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LUV. Barclays raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $31.74 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.24. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $18.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 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 Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LUV. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $932,894,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504,201 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1,327.7% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,840,529 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $95,499,000 after acquiring an additional 2,641,564 shares during the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $85,262,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $57,724,000. 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.