Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Earns Outperform Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their outperform rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $30.00 target price on the airline’s stock, down from their previous target price of $33.00.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on LUV. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an underperform rating to a hold rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $31.18.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

LUV stock opened at $27.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a PE ratio of 42.90, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.09. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $39.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.56.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.27) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arizona State Retirement System boosted 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 valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,383 shares of the airline’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,889,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.0% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 82.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.