Jefferies Financial Group Raises Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target to $24.00

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price target raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underperform rating on the airline’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Melius reaffirmed a sell rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a hold rating and set a $29.00 price target (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a strong sell rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $29.21.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 2.4 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $31.25 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a PE ratio of 49.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.93.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. Research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 281,017 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $8,116,000 after purchasing an additional 29,571 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth about $574,000. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 52,380 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,513,000 after acquiring an additional 7,706 shares during the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $243,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 78,835 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after acquiring an additional 4,288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.