Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Given New $34.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective lowered by Evercore ISI from $40.00 to $34.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the airline’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on LUV. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.75.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $33.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 1.21. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $37.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.34.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The airline reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $7.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.30 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 6.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the airline to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.09%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $27.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,154.30. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,881 shares in the company, valued at $406,102.49. The trade was a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David P. Hess bought 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $26.52 per share, for a total transaction of $198,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 23,156 shares in the company, valued at $614,097.12. This trade represents a 47.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at $42,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 67.8% during the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,448 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. 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.