Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.38.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LUV shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $29.00 to $28.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $29.53 on Monday. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $21.91 and a one year high of $35.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.66 and a 200 day moving average of $27.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.87, a PEG ratio of 27.03 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,551,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at $1,339,000. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth $764,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth $146,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth about $609,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.