Southwest Airlines (LUV) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) will likely be issuing its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, January 30th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.43 per share and revenue of $6,943,616.73 billion for the quarter. Individual that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect Southwest Airlines to post $1 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $31.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -455.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.26%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LUV. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.