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

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

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE LUV opened at $29.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 223.25, a PEG ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.28 and a 200-day moving average of $28.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LUV shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna increased their target price 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. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently 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.