The Goldman Sachs Group Reiterates “Sell” Rating for Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reissued by research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $28.00 price objective on the airline’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 13.62% from the stock’s previous close.

LUV has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.78.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $32.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $19.44 billion, a PE ratio of -463.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $30.18 and a 200-day moving average of $28.36. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.