Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives $30.96 Consensus PT from Analysts

by · The Markets Daily

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.78.

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on LUV

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $32.33 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $35.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.51.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Company Profile

(Get Free Report

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.

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