FY2024 EPS Forecast for Southwest Airlines Raised by Analyst

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Equities research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn increased their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Southwest Airlines in a report issued on Tuesday, December 10th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst D. Mckenzie now forecasts that the airline will post earnings of $0.85 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $0.81. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $0.76 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.45 EPS.

LUV has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America began coverage on Southwest Airlines in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 0.7 %

LUV stock opened at $33.01 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $19.80 billion, a PE ratio of -471.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value of $35,912,933.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,082,719 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $932,894,000 after buying an additional 9,504,201 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,828,166 shares of the airline’s stock worth $166,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,496 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 608.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,623,333 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111,946 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southwest Airlines by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,377,660 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after buying an additional 46,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.