Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Bank of America

Analysts at Bank of America began coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a research note issued on Monday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the airline’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.18% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $30.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,131,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,364,611. The firm has a market cap of $18.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -438.57, a PEG ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $22.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.77 and a 200-day moving average of $28.21.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 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.