Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Upgraded at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $35.00 price target on the airline’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.0 %

LUV stock opened at $29.89 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $32.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $17.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. As a group, analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.