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

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

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:LUV traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $31.51. The company had a trading volume of 6,641,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,811,499. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -451.47, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.14. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,028.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LUV. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and issued a $29.50 price target (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southwest Airlines news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of Southwest Airlines 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 transaction, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available 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.