Wall Street Zen Upgrades Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) to Hold

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on LUV. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $33.38.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $32.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $23.82 and a 1-year high of $37.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $32.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.72.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.38%. Equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the airline to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Sarah Feinberg bought 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $30.01 per share, with a total value of $45,015.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 14,229 shares in the company, valued at $427,012.29. This trade represents a 11.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky bought 3,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $100,450.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 23,644 shares in the company, valued at $710,029.32. This represents a 16.48% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 81.4% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during 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.