Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Expected to Post Q2 2024 Earnings of $0.50 Per Share

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Analysts at Seaport Res Ptn decreased their Q2 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report issued on Monday, June 24th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst D. Mckenzie now expects that the airline will earn $0.50 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.55. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $1.03 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ FY2026 earnings at $2.75 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on LUV. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.83.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.1 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $28.52 on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 378,428 shares of the airline’s stock worth $10,929,000 after buying an additional 103,834 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 104,990 shares of the airline’s stock worth $3,065,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the airline’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 506,762 shares of the airline’s stock worth $14,635,000 after buying an additional 124,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 10,790,654 shares of the airline’s stock worth $311,634,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares in the last quarter. 80.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.