Southwest Airlines Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 (NYSE:LUV)

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 16th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the airline on Thursday, January 11th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%.

Southwest Airlines has a payout ratio of 40.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Southwest Airlines to earn $1.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.7%.

Southwest Airlines Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $24.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Southwest Airlines has a 1 year low of $21.91 and a 1 year high of $40.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $25.79 and a 200 day moving average of $30.31.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The airline reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38. The firm had revenue of $6.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 1.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.75 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Southwest Airlines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $20.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.06.

Institutional Trading of Southwest Airlines

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 13,336 shares of the airline’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,335 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth about $403,000. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 16.6% during the first quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 6,335 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,187 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 3.2% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 40,189 shares of the airline’s stock worth $1,841,000 after buying an additional 1,246 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.22% of the company’s stock.

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated a total fleet of 770 Boeing 737 aircrafts; 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.