Sanford C. Bernstein Trims Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Target Price to $26.00

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) had its price objective lowered by Sanford C. Bernstein from $27.00 to $26.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has a market perform rating on the airline’s stock.

LUV has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $30.24.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $27.28 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.30, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.62. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $39.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.27) earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LUV. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,475,988 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,544,387,000 after acquiring an additional 9,444,279 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares during the period. Provident Trust Co. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 7,599,210 shares of the airline’s stock worth $219,465,000 after purchasing an additional 460,480 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc. raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 6,210,347 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $179,355,000 after buying an additional 1,238,468 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,866,933 shares of the airline’s stock worth $131,748,000 after purchasing an additional 32,089 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.