Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives $28.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.47.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 374.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $25.22 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.96. The firm 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.

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

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

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

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.