Southwest Airlines (LUV) Set to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is set to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of ($0.05) per share for the quarter. Persons that wish to register for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.25. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business had revenue of $6.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.38) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect Southwest Airlines to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV opened at $28.78 on Thursday. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $21.91 and a 12-month high of $39.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.46. The company has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 96.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LUV. Raymond James increased their price target on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.82.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth about $97,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 63.9% in the first quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the airline’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at approximately $67,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the second quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Cowa LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the first quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.