Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Reaches New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Barclays upgraded the stock from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating. Barclays now has a $56.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $34.00. Southwest Airlines traded as high as $43.54 and last traded at $42.1680, with a volume of 12550390 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $41.72.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LUV. Citigroup assumed coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $31.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, December 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.59.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 7.1% during the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 4,690 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 24,857 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $806,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,285 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,791 shares of the airline’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.4% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 83,070 shares of the airline’s stock worth $2,651,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.1%

The stock has a market cap of $21.81 billion, a PE ratio of 64.87, a PEG ratio of 0.83 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $33.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.08.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The airline reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 6.39% and a net margin of 1.38%.The business had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter. Analysts expect that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 1.55 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 110.77%.

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.