Melius Upgrades Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) to Hold

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) was upgraded by investment analysts at Melius from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LUV. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 target price (down from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $33.63 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.31. The company has a market capitalization of $19.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LUV. CWC Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 13,310 shares of the airline’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.2% during the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 41.1% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,116 shares of the airline’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,822 shares of the airline’s stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.