Southwest Airlines’ (LUV) “In-Line” Rating Reiterated at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI reiterated their in-line rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $40.00 price target on the airline’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $24.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Melius upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.13.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of LUV opened at $36.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 1.21. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $37.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.25.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.36) earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 84.71%.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,102.49. This trade represents a 32.74% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David P. Hess acquired 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 23,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,097.12. This represents a 47.90% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWC Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 13,310 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% during the first quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 16,301 shares of the airline’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 76,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the airline’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,161 shares of the airline’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.