Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $36.00 to $32.75. The stock had previously closed at $29.28, but opened at $28.57. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Southwest Airlines shares last traded at $28.54, with a volume of 1,026,462 shares trading hands.
Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 28th. Redburn Partners cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, August 7th. 22nd Century Group reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.99.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LUV. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 247.5% during the first quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 702 shares of the airline’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Southwest Airlines by 279.2% during the second quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 948 shares of the airline’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the period. Pacific Center for Financial Services purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $36,000. 78.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Southwest Airlines Stock Down 2.6 %
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.34. The company has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a PE ratio of 33.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.17.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The airline reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $7.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.98 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 5.81%. The business’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 6th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 5th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.82%.
About Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated a total fleet of 770 Boeing 737 aircrafts; 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.