Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 on April 2nd

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the airline on Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th.

Southwest Airlines has a dividend payout ratio of 29.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Southwest Airlines to earn $2.47 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 29.1%.

Southwest Airlines Trading Up 0.5 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $31.06 on Friday. Southwest Airlines has a one year low of $23.58 and a one year high of $36.12. The stock has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 43.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.50.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.08.

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.