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

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the airline on Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 12th.

Southwest Airlines has a payout ratio of 29.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Southwest Airlines to earn $2.36 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 30.5%.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

LUV stock opened at $29.20 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. Southwest Airlines has a 52-week low of $23.58 and a 52-week high of $36.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.17.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.11. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. Research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LUV. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and issued a $29.50 target price (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.72.

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.