Southwest Airlines Company Company Profile (NYSE:LUV)

Southwest Airlines Company trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "LUV."

Southwest Airlines Company declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share on Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 22nd. View Southwest Airlines Company's Dividend History.

Southwest Airlines Company announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Sunday, June 4th 2017, which permits the company to repurchase $2,000,000,000.00 in shares, according to EventVestor. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 5.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) announced its earnings results on Thursday, July, 27th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.04. The company earned $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Southwest Airlines Company had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 26.07%. Southwest Airlines Company's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. View Southwest Airlines Company's Earnings History.

Southwest Airlines Company is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Wednesday, October, 25th 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Southwest Airlines Company.

14 brokerages have issued twelve-month price targets for Southwest Airlines Company's stock. Their forecasts range from $61.00 to $80.00. On average, they anticipate Southwest Airlines Company's share price to reach $67.85 in the next twelve months. View Analyst Ratings for Southwest Airlines Company.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Southwest Airlines Company stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Southwest Airlines reported better than expected earnings and revenues in the second quarter of 2017. Moreover, both earnings and revenues improved on a year over year basis. Passenger revenues accounted for the bulk of the top line. The company hiked its quarterly dividend payout by 25% in May 2017. Its board also cleared a new buyback plan worth $2 billion. In the second quarter of 2017, the company returned $476 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. Shares of Southwest Airlines have performed well, outperforming its industry in the last one year. However, the company's third-quarter view on unit revenues is concerning. Moreover, high costs may hurt bottom-line growth going forward. Unit costs (excluding fuel, special items and profit sharing expenses) in the third quarter are expected to increase in the 2-3% range." (8/1/2017)
• 2. Imperial Capital analysts commented, "We are maintaining our Outperform rating on LUV shares. We are raising our one-year price target to $63 from $59 as well as our EPS estimates on higher unit revenues and lower unit costs. Our price target is about 17% above the recent share price. We are raising our FY17 EPS estimate to $4.00 from $3.90, and our FY18 EPS estimate to $5.25 from $5.15. Our new FY17 estimate assumes capacity increases 3.5% versus 3.8% previously, RASM increases 1% versus 0.5% previously, CASM ex-fuel increases 3% versus 4% previously, and jet fuel averages $2.00 per gallon." (1/27/2017)

Southwest Airlines Company saw a increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,354,260 shares, an increase of 58.6% from the August 15th total of 7,161,155 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,527,904 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company's shares are short sold.

Some companies that are related to Southwest Airlines Company include Canadian National Railway Company (CNI), FedEx Corporation (FDX), Deutsche Post AG (DPSGY), CSX Corporation (CSX), Norfolk Souther Corporation (NSC), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY), Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP), Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL), American Airlines Group (AAL), A P MOLLAR-MRSK (AMKBY), United Continental Holdings (UAL), International Consoltd Airlns Grp SA (ICAGY), ANA Holdings (ALNPY), Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLAKY), Kansas City Southern (KSU), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) and Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD).

Southwest Airlines Company's management team includes the folowing people:

• Gary C. Kelly, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
• Thomas M. Nealon, President
• Ron Ricks, Vice Chairman of the Board
• Tammy Romo, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
• Michael G. Van de Ven, Chief Operating Officer
• Robert E. Jordan, Chief Commercial Officer, Executive Vice President
• Gregory D. Wells, Executive Vice President - Daily Operations
• Kathleen Wayton, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer
• Stan Alexander, Chief Technology Officer, Vice President
• William H. Cunningham Ph.D., Presiding Independent Director

Southwest Airlines Company's stock is owned by many different of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (7.96%), Vanguard Group Inc. (6.35%), FMR LLC (5.51%), BlackRock Inc. (5.09%), State Street Corp (3.73%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (1.48%). Company insiders that own Southwest Airlines Company stock include David W Biegler, De Ven Michael G Van, Gary C Kelly, Gregory D Wells, Jeff Lamb, John T Montford, Mark R Shaw, Robert E Jordan, Tammy Romo and William H Dr Cunningham. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Southwest Airlines Company.

Southwest Airlines Company's stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including BlackRock Inc., Egerton Capital UK LLP, AJO LP, Bank of Montreal Can, State Street Corp, Winslow Capital Management LLC, Bank of New York Mellon Corp and Westpac Banking Corp. Company insiders that have sold Southwest Airlines Company stock in the last year include De Ven Michael G Van, Gary C Kelly, Gregory D Wells, Jeff Lamb, John T Montford, Mark R Shaw, Robert E Jordan and Tammy Romo. View Insider Buying and Selling for Southwest Airlines Company.

Southwest Airlines Company's stock was acquired by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Boston Partners, Thrivent Financial For Lutherans, Ameriprise Financial Inc., Wells Fargo & Company MN, Janus Henderson Group PLC, Nomura Holdings Inc., Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Mik Capital LLC. Company insiders that have bought Southwest Airlines Company stock in the last two years include De Ven Michael G Van, Gary C Kelly and William H Dr Cunningham. View Insider Buying and Selling for Southwest Airlines Company.

Shares of Southwest Airlines Company can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Southwest Airlines Company stock can currently be purchased for approximately $54.09.