Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives $30.96 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.78.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.33 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month 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) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

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.