Citigroup Boosts Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target to $31.50

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price target hoisted by Citigroup from $28.25 to $31.50 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the airline’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on LUV. Melius reaffirmed a sell rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 10th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a hold rating and set a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a strong sell rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $29.21.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE LUV opened at $31.25 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.60, a PEG ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.93. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $21.91 and a 12 month high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. 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.