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

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 15th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the airline on Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th.

Southwest Airlines has increased its dividend payment by an average of 71.0% annually over the last three years. Southwest Airlines has a dividend payout ratio of 38.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Southwest Airlines to earn $2.06 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 35.0%.

Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.1 %

LUV opened at $28.38 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a PE ratio of 45.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Southwest Airlines has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $39.53. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.37.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The airline reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.27) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LUV. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued 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 research note on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.88.

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.