Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Raised to "Buy" at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $40.00 price target on the airline's stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft's price target would suggest a potential upside of 19.98% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (down from $42.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.53.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:LUV traded down $0.37 on Thursday, hitting $33.34. The company had a trading volume of 19,813,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,193,380. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $29.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.14. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.69% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.36) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director C. David Cush purchased 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at $570,900.33. The trade was a 35.69% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky purchased 3,670 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,881 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $406,102.49. This trade represents a 32.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 16,670 shares of company stock worth $464,944 over the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 426,878 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.6% in the first quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 49,688,308 shares of the airline's stock worth $1,668,533,000 after buying an additional 788,255 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,152,996 shares of the airline's stock worth $475,092,000 after buying an additional 320,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,111,634 shares of the airline's stock worth $205,476,000 after buying an additional 372,313 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company's stock.

About Southwest Airlines

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.