Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Upgraded by Melius Research to "Hold" Rating

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Melius Research from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a $34.00 price target on the airline's stock, up from their previous price target of $28.00. Melius Research's target price would indicate a potential downside of 2.60% from the company's previous close.

LUV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $32.52.

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Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV traded up $0.08 on Thursday, reaching $34.91. 16,493,463 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,130,037. The firm has a market cap of $20.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.43. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LUV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,653,945 shares of the airline's stock worth $2,308,146,000 after purchasing an additional 426,878 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,978,869 shares of the airline's stock worth $1,108,750,000 after buying an additional 2,896,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline's stock valued at $475,092,000 after acquiring an additional 320,421 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline's stock valued at $205,476,000 after acquiring an additional 372,313 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 66.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,014,828 shares of the airline's stock worth $202,219,000 after acquiring an additional 2,391,495 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

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.