Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The airline reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07, RTT News reports. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 0.41%. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 3.0 %

LUV traded down $0.85 on Friday, reaching $27.23. 13,132,906 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,055,514. The company has a market cap of $16.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.22, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.20. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $32.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $27.50 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.88.

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.