Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) PT Raised to $31.50

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price target raised by investment analysts at Citigroup from $28.25 to $31.50 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the airline’s stock. Citigroup’s target price indicates a potential upside of 0.80% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Melius reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, June 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of 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 issued a $29.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.21.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $31.25 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $27.94 and its 200-day moving average is $27.93. The stock has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.60, a P/E/G ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 0.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. 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.