Southwest Airlines’ (LUV) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their overweight rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $42.00 target price on the airline’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. 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. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $33.01 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $31.71 and a 200-day moving average of $29.22. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $19.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -471.57, a PEG ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth $33,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. 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.