Southwest Airlines (LUV) Expected to Announce Earnings on Thursday

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is projected to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, January 30th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.43 per share and revenue of $6,943,616.73 billion 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect Southwest Airlines to post $1 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

NYSE:LUV opened at $31.89 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.04 and a 200-day moving average of $30.22. The firm has a market cap of $19.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -455.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.31.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In related news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.