Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives $29.31 Average Price Target from Analysts

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.36.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Melius reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $27.80 price target for the company.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $27.53 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.82 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,544,387,000 after buying an additional 9,444,279 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth about $29,789,000. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth $24,404,000. 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.