Barclays Trims Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Target Price to $26.00

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $30.00 to $26.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an underperform rating to a hold rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an inline rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Southwest Airlines from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $31.18.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $27.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.53. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LifeSteps Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at about $78,000. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 12,676 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 535,572 shares of the airline’s stock worth $15,633,000 after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares during the period. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 18,914 shares of the airline’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hedges Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 127.1% in the 1st quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 92,900 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 52,000 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.