Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Given New $40.00 Price Target at Raymond James

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Raymond James from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the airline’s stock. Raymond James’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.51% from the stock’s current price.

LUV has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.96.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE LUV opened at $34.04 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $20.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -486.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.28 and a 200-day moving average of $29.66. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,661 shares of the airline’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 35.3% during the third quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,923 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. 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.