Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.82.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI restated an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 7.0 %

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $27.26 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $39.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.53. The firm has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,926 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,383 shares of the airline’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 64,743 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.0% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,055 shares of the airline’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 82.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.