Zacks Research Issues Negative Estimate for LUV Earnings

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Analysts at Zacks Research decreased their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note issued on Tuesday, December 17th. Zacks Research analyst S. Goswami now forecasts that the airline will post earnings per share of $0.01 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.03. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $0.78 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ Q2 2025 earnings at $0.81 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $1.40 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.84 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.30 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $2.22 EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.5 %

LUV opened at $33.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $19.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -475.43, a PEG ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $31.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.45.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter worth $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines in the third quarter valued at $33,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in Southwest Airlines by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal acquired 643,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

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.