Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Cuts Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target to $32.00

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price decreased by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $37.00 to $32.00 in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.50 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. HSBC began coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a hold rating and a $27.80 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $29.31.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $27.64 on Monday. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $39.53. The stock has a market cap of $16.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.87, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.27) earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LUV. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 243,546 shares of the airline’s stock worth $6,593,000 after buying an additional 36,283 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 38,925 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,406 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 1,325.4% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,536 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $610,000 after purchasing an additional 20,955 shares during the last quarter. WT Wealth Management raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. WT Wealth Management now owns 44,534 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 10,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust now owns 5,747 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.