Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.11 EPS

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The airline reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.11, Zacks reports. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.9 %

LUV opened at $30.68 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $23.58 and a 52 week high of $36.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.43. The company has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a PE ratio of -438.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.14.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,028.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LUV shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.31.

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.