Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Announces Earnings Results

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10, RTT News reports. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.4 %

LUV stock opened at $29.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.71, a P/E/G ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.11.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 114.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on LUV. Citigroup raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.14.

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.