Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10, RTT News reports. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of LUV stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $29.43. 9,321,783 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,424,932. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $35.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.11.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LUV shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.