Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Given New $26.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the airline’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on LUV. BNP Paribas upgraded Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.14.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of LUV stock traded up $0.41 on Friday, reaching $29.43. The company had a trading volume of 9,321,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,424,932. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.39 and a 200-day moving average of $28.12. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18. The stock has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 46.71, a PEG ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

Insider Activity

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. AM Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 94.0% in the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is 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.