Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Research Coverage Started at Citigroup

Citigroup began coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $38.00 price target on the airline’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LUV. UBS Group lowered their price target on Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, December 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 5.8%

Shares of LUV opened at $37.87 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $23.82 and a 1-year high of $38.17. The company has a market capitalization of $19.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.68.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.38%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 110.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 76,719 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,576,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth about $418,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,602,939 shares of the airline’s stock worth $120,987,000 after purchasing an additional 136,410 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 18.3% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 783,225 shares of the airline’s stock worth $26,301,000 after purchasing an additional 120,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 11,919 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.