Southwest Airlines - LUV Stock Forecast, Price & News

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

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LUV shares. Susquehanna upgraded shares of 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. Susquehanna Bancshares upgraded Southwest Airlines from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $48.00 to $53.00 in a report on Monday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $62.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.06.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.28. 3,354,170 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,815,134. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.40. The firm has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 2.67 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. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $34.36 and a 12 month high of $56.33.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Rating) last issued 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. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 4.71%. The company had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.35) earnings per share. Southwest Airlines's revenue was up 67.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director John T. Montford sold 2,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.70, for a total transaction of $105,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,064,627.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.