Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Downgraded to “Underperform” Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $28.00 price target on the airline’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 16.73% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.32.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.1 %

LUV stock opened at $33.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $19.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $31.36 and its 200 day moving average is $31.60. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,308,146,000 after purchasing an additional 426,878 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,108,750,000 after buying an additional 2,896,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $475,092,000 after buying an additional 320,421 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline’s stock worth $205,476,000 after acquiring an additional 372,313 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline’s stock worth $202,219,000 after acquiring an additional 2,391,495 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently 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.