Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The airline reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10, RTT News reports. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

LUV opened at $29.02 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 223.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 553.89%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased 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. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.33.

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.