Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Earns Hold Rating from Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated their hold rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $29.00 price objective on the airline’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $32.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.50 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Raymond James reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Melius reiterated a sell rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $28.50.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 3.4 %

LUV stock opened at $26.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a PE ratio of 41.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.17. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $35.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is presently 114.29%.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,544,387,000 after acquiring an additional 9,444,279 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,569,773 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $1,972,362,000 after buying an additional 2,148,435 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $179,355,000 after buying an additional 1,238,468 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,789,000. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,404,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by 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.