Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

LUV has been the subject of a number of other reports. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Raymond James upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI restated an “inline” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. UBS Group began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $27.54 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.72, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.38) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Forum Financial Management LP increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 4.0% in the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,067 shares of the airline’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.6% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,639 shares of the airline’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 50,213 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 4.4% in the first quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 8,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. 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.