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

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $32.52.

LUV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Melius upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $29.50 target price (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,308,146,000 after purchasing an additional 426,878 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,108,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,896,150 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $475,092,000 after purchasing an additional 320,421 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $205,476,000 after purchasing an additional 372,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $202,219,000 after purchasing an additional 2,391,495 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $34.84 on Monday. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.39, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.39.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly 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, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.