Zacks Research Has Negative Forecast for LUV FY2025 Earnings

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) – Zacks Research lowered their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Southwest Airlines in a research note issued on Wednesday, May 7th. Zacks Research analyst S. Goswami now expects that the airline will earn $1.41 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $1.51. The consensus estimate for Southwest Airlines’ current full-year earnings is $1.55 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southwest Airlines’ Q1 2027 earnings at $0.37 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LUV. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Argus upgraded Southwest Airlines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $34.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.59.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of LUV opened at $31.28 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.05. Southwest Airlines has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $36.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The airline reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 1.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.36) EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 186.7% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 883 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 196.3% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 889 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines

In other news, Director C. David Cush acquired 5,000 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.03 per share, for a total transaction of $150,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,900.33. This trade represents a 35.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg A. Saretsky acquired 3,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $27.29 per share, with a total value of $100,154.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $406,102.49. The trade was a 32.74% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 16,670 shares of company stock valued at $464,944 over the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Southwest Airlines’s payout ratio is 84.71%.

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.