Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Stock Price

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its target price lowered by analysts at Barclays from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the airline’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.92% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LUV. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Melius raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of Southwest Airlines stock opened at $28.59 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.94 billion, a PE ratio of 39.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.50. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.03 per share, with a total value of $150,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Paladin Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC now owns 16,366 shares of the airline’s stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 525,042 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $17,631,000 after purchasing an additional 47,632 shares in the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,086 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 136,125 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $4,571,000 after purchasing an additional 6,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,081,622 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $36,321,000 after purchasing an additional 36,822 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.