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.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities research analysts have commented on LUV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $62.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, April 29th. Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $67.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 29th. Susquehanna raised Southwest Airlines from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southwest Airlines from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 2nd. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.06.
Southwest Airlines Price Performance
NYSE:LUV opened at $39.46 on Monday. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $34.36 and a one year high of $56.33. The stock has a market cap of $23.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.31.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The airline reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.39. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The firm had revenue of $6.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.35) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 67.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines
In other Southwest Airlines 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 transaction of $105,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,064,627.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.