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

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 Price Performance

LUV traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,104,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,825,281. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $33.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.40. The company has a market cap of $18.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -451.93, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James raised 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. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and issued a $29.50 price target (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total value of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.