Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Raymond James

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Raymond James in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $30.00 price target on the airline’s stock, down from their prior price target of $33.00. Raymond James’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 10.99% from the company’s previous close.

LUV has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI reissued an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.18.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

LUV opened at $27.03 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a PE ratio of 42.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.27) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,544,387,000 after buying an additional 9,444,279 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after purchasing an additional 47,119 shares during the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 7,599,210 shares of the airline’s stock worth $219,465,000 after purchasing an additional 460,480 shares during the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock worth $179,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,866,933 shares of the airline’s stock worth $131,748,000 after purchasing an additional 32,089 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Company Profile

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.