Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) Forecasted to Post Q3 2024 Earnings of $0.55 Per Share

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Stock analysts at Seaport Res Ptn upped their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, April 15th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst D. Mckenzie now anticipates that the airline will earn $0.55 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.40. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $1.49 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.70 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $1.85 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.85 EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on LUV. Argus upgraded 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI reissued an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.82.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $29.06 on Wednesday. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $21.91 and a 52-week high of $39.53. The stock has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.89 and a 200-day moving average of $28.46.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The airline reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $6.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.75 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.38) EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Partners Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth $1,100,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 94.0% in the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the airline’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 88.2% in the first quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,352 shares of the airline’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 11,882 shares in the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southwest Airlines in the first quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 5.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,390 shares of the airline’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

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.