Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Given “Sell” Rating at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated their sell rating on shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a $28.00 target price on the airline’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup increased 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.78.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $32.60. 6,251,441 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,262,869. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.43. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $35.18. The company has a market capitalization of $19.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -465.79, a PEG ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southwest Airlines will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 21.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.