What is Seaport Res Ptn’s Forecast for LUV FY2024 Earnings?

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Analysts at Seaport Res Ptn increased their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report issued on Tuesday, December 10th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst D. Mckenzie now expects that the airline will earn $0.85 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $0.81. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $0.75 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.45 EPS.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.37.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $33.24 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $23.58 and a 1 year high of $36.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -479.43, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.16.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LUV. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978 shares of the airline’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 18,306 shares of the airline’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its position in Southwest Airlines by 11.5% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the airline’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,918 shares of the airline’s stock worth $146,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southwest Airlines

In related news, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total value 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 represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. Southwest Airlines’s 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.