Brokerages Set Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) PT at $30.10

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.10.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LUV. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $27.80 target price for the company. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,544,387,000 after acquiring an additional 9,444,279 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,972,362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,435 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 106.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,556,536 shares of the airline’s stock worth $69,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318,361 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $179,355,000 after buying an additional 1,238,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,789,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 4.4 %

LUV stock opened at $26.65 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $39.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.94.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.27) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

About Southwest Airlines

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.