Citigroup Reiterates Sell Rating for Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)

Citigroup reiterated their sell rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Free Report) in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Citigroup currently has a $29.50 price target on the airline's stock, down from their previous price target of $31.50.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.31.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LUV traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $32.19. The stock had a trading volume of 10,465,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,095,960. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The firm has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -459.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $33.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.10.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline's stock worth $932,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,504,201 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline's stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline's stock valued at $107,359,000 after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline's stock valued at $100,080,000 after buying an additional 46,110 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline's stock worth $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.