Southwest Airlines’ (LUV) Sell Rating Reiterated at Citigroup

Citigroup restated their sell rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $29.50 price target on the airline’s stock, down from their prior price target of $31.50.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LUV. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $32.19 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.02 and a 200-day moving average of $30.13. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a PE ratio of -459.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $107,359,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after purchasing an additional 46,110 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.