Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Price Target Cut to $26.00 by Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective trimmed by Sanford C. Bernstein from $27.00 to $26.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the airline’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com lowered Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to an underperform rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $30.24.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

LUV traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $27.20. The company had a trading volume of 379,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,983,234. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. The company has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.52, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.27) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. now owns 230,726 shares of the airline’s stock worth $6,735,000 after purchasing an additional 3,871 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth about $219,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 32,551 shares of the airline’s stock worth $950,000 after acquiring an additional 4,891 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 21,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the first quarter valued at $1,518,000. 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.