Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The airline reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07, RTT News reports. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV traded down $0.85 on Friday, hitting $27.23. 13,132,906 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,055,514. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.80 and its 200 day moving average is $29.20. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $21.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.50 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday. Melius reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.88.

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.