Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Raised to $38.00 at Susquehanna

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Susquehanna from $33.00 to $38.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the airline’s stock. Susquehanna’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 16.28% from the company’s previous close.

LUV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.55.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock traded down $1.15 on Tuesday, hitting $32.68. 2,067,775 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,913,755. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.88. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -466.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In related news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $932,894,000 after buying an additional 9,504,201 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock worth $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after purchasing an additional 46,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.