Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Raised to $28.00 at TD Cowen

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price target increased by TD Cowen from $25.00 to $28.00 in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a hold rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.61.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV stock opened at $34.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.97.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,963,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth $1,751,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.