Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Receives “Sell” Rating from UBS Group

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at UBS Group in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $27.00 target price on the airline’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 16.74% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on LUV. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of LUV opened at $32.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The company has a market cap of $19.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -463.29, a PEG ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.69.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after buying an additional 3,111,946 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock worth $100,080,000 after buying an additional 46,110 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock worth $89,068,000 after buying an additional 2,959,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,551,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

About Southwest Airlines

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.