FY2024 EPS Forecast for Southwest Airlines Lifted by Analyst

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Research analysts at Zacks Research upped their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Southwest Airlines in a report released on Tuesday, December 17th. Zacks Research analyst S. Goswami now forecasts that the airline will post earnings per share of $0.75 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $0.73. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $0.78 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.36 EPS and Q1 2026 earnings at $0.43 EPS.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on LUV. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, November 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE LUV opened at $32.78 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines has a 12 month low of $23.58 and a 12 month high of $36.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a PE ratio of -468.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.98 per share, with a total value of $19,300,764.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid 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 2.20%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.