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

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

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:LUV opened at $30.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -438.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50-day moving average is $32.97 and its 200-day moving average is $30.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.31.

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.