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

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 of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th.

Southwest Airlines has a dividend payout ratio of 29.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of LUV stock opened at $29.20 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $31.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.17. The company has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.10. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $36.12. 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 (NYSE:LUV) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The airline reported $0.56 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts predict that Southwest Airlines will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and set a $29.50 price objective (down previously from $31.50) on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.72.

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.