Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Forecasted to Post Q3 2024 Earnings of $0.55 Per Share

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn increased their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Southwest Airlines in a note issued to investors on Monday, April 15th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst D. Mckenzie now expects that the airline will earn $0.55 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.40. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $1.49 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.70 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $1.85 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.85 EPS.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $29.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $39.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.46.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.25. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.38) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 96.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $10,929,000 after acquiring an additional 103,834 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $14,635,000 after acquiring an additional 124,054 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,077,158 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $83,299,000 after purchasing an additional 23,715 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 24.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 823,779 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $22,506,000 after purchasing an additional 163,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Resource Council increased its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 14,826 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 5,178 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

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.