Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.58.
Several analysts have recently weighed in on LUV shares. Macquarie raised Southwest Airlines from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Citigroup started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, October 31st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $59.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Berenberg Bank started coverage on Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, September 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Southwest Airlines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st.
Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth about $264,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 65,165 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at $542,000. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 142,611 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,242,000 after purchasing an additional 12,068 shares during the period. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. now owns 86,377 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $4,386,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares during the period. 82.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Shares of NYSE:LUV traded down $0.34 during trading on Monday, hitting $54.15. 2,683,301 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,373,128. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $44.28 and a 1-year high of $58.77. The company has a market capitalization of $28.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.65.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.15. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 24.71% and a net margin of 10.90%. The company had revenue of $5.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is 16.98%.
About Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co operates a passenger airline that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2018, the company operated a total of 750 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 99 destinations in 40 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.
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