Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $33.38.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of LUV opened at $32.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.82 and a fifty-two week high of $37.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.75. The firm has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.61, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. The firm 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, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the airline to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $100,450.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 23,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,029.32. This represents a 16.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Feinberg acquired 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $30.01 per share, with a total value of $45,015.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 14,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,012.29. This trade represents a 11.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth about $34,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.