Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.47.

A number of research analysts recently commented on LUV shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 374.0% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 82.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $25.22 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $15.09 billion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.96.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

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.