Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 on September 24th

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the airline on Thursday, September 24th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd.

Southwest Airlines has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.3%annually over the last three years. Southwest Airlines has a dividend payout ratio of 28.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Southwest Airlines to earn $5.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.4%.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $44.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $46.61 and its 200 day moving average is $44.37. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $28.98 and a one year high of $55.11. The firm has a market cap of $22.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.12.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The airline reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.42. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 2.78%.The business had revenue of $8.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Southwest Airlines has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.250-4.250 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.750 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LUV. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $44.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $24.40 to $36.10 in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.55.

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co is a U.S.-based low-cost carrier that operates a point-to-point domestic and near-international airline network. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company primarily flies Boeing 737 aircraft and offers no-frills, single-class service designed to keep fares competitive. Southwest’s operating model emphasizes high aircraft utilization, quick turnaround times and an open seating policy, allowing customers to board and select seats on a first-come, first-served basis.

Founded in 1967 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King as Air Southwest Company, Southwest began commercial service in 1971, initially connecting Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.