Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Cut to $26.00 by Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $27.00 to $26.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the airline’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 0.57% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on LUV. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Argus raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.24.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:LUV opened at $26.15 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.59. The company has a market capitalization of $15.65 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.27) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 374.0% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 858 shares of the airline’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 914 shares of the airline’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Motco grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 151.0% in the 3rd quarter. Motco now owns 1,187 shares of the airline’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. 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.