Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Raised to $30.00 at Citigroup

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price increased by Citigroup from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the airline’s stock.

LUV has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.54.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $33.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a PE ratio of 46.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.53. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at $570,900.33. This represents a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 32.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth about $614,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 23.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 99,407 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,945,000 after acquiring an additional 19,000 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 16,503 shares of the airline’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $608,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.