Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The airline reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02), RTT News reports. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 1.59%. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.27) earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Southwest Airlines Stock Performance

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $27.04 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $30.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a PE ratio of 42.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines has a twelve month low of $21.91 and a twelve month high of $39.53.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LUV. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday. Argus raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.18.

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.