Southwest Airlines (LUV) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) will be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, October 24th. Analysts expect Southwest Airlines to post earnings of ($0.24) per share for the quarter. Individual that wish to listen to the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect Southwest Airlines to post $1 EPS for the current fiscal year and $1 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $30.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 234.63, a PEG ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.17. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $35.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.09. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 553.89%.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, Director Rakesh Gangwal purchased 643,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LUV shares. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of 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. Susquehanna raised 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. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Three equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.33.

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.