Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) PT Lowered to $26.00 at Barclays

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by research analysts at Barclays from $30.00 to $26.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the airline's stock. Barclays's price objective would indicate a potential downside of 3.83% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.18.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.8 %

LUV stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $27.04. The stock had a trading volume of 16,105,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,782,478. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline's stock worth $10,929,000 after purchasing an additional 103,834 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline's stock worth $14,635,000 after buying an additional 124,054 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline's stock valued at $83,299,000 after buying an additional 23,715 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline's stock valued at $22,506,000 after acquiring an additional 163,544 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Resource Council increased its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 53.7% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 14,826 shares of the airline's stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 5,178 shares in the last quarter. 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.