Southwest Airlines’ (LUV) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their outperform rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $30.00 target price on the airline’s stock, down from their prior target price of $33.00.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a buy rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southwest Airlines from an underperform rating to a hold rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $31.18.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $27.04 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $39.53. The company has a market cap 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 current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $30.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.53.

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

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LUV. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.4% during the first 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 during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.7% during the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 535,572 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $15,633,000 after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares during the period. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.8% during the first quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 18,914 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Finally, Hedges Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 127.1% during the first quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 92,900 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 52,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.