Southwest Airlines Co. operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated a total fleet of 728 Boeing 737 aircrafts; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as 10 near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. It also provides inflight entertainment and connectivity services on Wi-Fi enabled aircrafts; and Rapid Rewards loyalty program that enables program members to earn points for dollars spent on Southwest base fares. In addition, the company offers a suite of digital platforms to support customers' travel needs, including websites and apps; and SWABIZ, an online booking tool. Further, it provides ancillary services, such as Southwest's EarlyBird Check-In, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. The company was incorporated in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
LUV has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James upgraded Southwest Airlines from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $57.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 23rd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $48.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Monday, May 2nd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $58.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 23rd. Cowen decreased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $67.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 29th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded Southwest Airlines from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.06.
Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.3 %
NYSE:LUV opened at $39.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.32. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $34.36 and a 12 month high of $56.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The airline reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $6.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.69 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 67.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.35) EPS. Analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, Director John T. Montford sold 2,300 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.70, for a total value of $105,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,296 shares in the company, valued at $1,064,627.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.