Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Susquehanna Analyst Says

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price target upped by Susquehanna from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the airline’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on LUV. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC downgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.63.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $32.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.54. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $23.82 and a 52 week high of $37.96.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The airline reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.08). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 6.27%. The business had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the airline to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 109.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $100,450.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 23,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $710,029.32. The trade was a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Feinberg bought 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $30.01 per share, with a total value of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 14,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,012.29. This trade represents a 11.78% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,285 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $456,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the period. Praxis Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 27.8% in the third quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,394 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 7,924 shares in the last quarter. Stance Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $294,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 28.6% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,720 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $50,000. 80.82% of the stock is 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.