Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Receives $33.80 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.80.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LUV shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE LUV traded up $0.09 on Friday, reaching $35.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,546,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,830,087. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $23.82 and a twelve month high of $37.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.54. The stock has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a PE ratio of 54.08, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 110.77%.

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.