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

Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a research report released on Monday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $33.00 price target on the airline’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.31.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.6 %

Southwest Airlines stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $30.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 863,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,346,625. The company has a market capitalization of $18.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -427.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $22.58 and a 12 month high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.