Southwest Airlines’ (LUV) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Raymond James restated their outperform rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $30.00 target price on the airline’s stock, down from their prior target price of $33.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on LUV. Evercore ISI reissued an inline rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and increased their price target for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $31.18.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $27.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $39.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $30.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.27) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,544,387,000 after purchasing an additional 9,444,279 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after purchasing an additional 47,119 shares during the period. Provident Trust Co. raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 7,599,210 shares of the airline’s stock worth $219,465,000 after purchasing an additional 460,480 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock worth $179,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,468 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,866,933 shares of the airline’s stock worth $131,748,000 after purchasing an additional 32,089 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.