Southwest Airlines Co. operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated a total fleet of 728 Boeing 737 aircrafts; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as 10 near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. It also provides inflight entertainment and connectivity services on Wi-Fi enabled aircrafts; and Rapid Rewards loyalty program that enables program members to earn points for dollars spent on Southwest base fares. In addition, the company offers a suite of digital platforms to support customers' travel needs, including websites and apps; and SWABIZ, an online booking tool. Further, it provides ancillary services, such as Southwest's EarlyBird Check-In, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. The company was incorporated in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Southwest Airlines Trading Down 2.3 %
NYSE:LUV traded down $0.93 on Wednesday, hitting $38.94. 5,484,735 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,745,745. Southwest Airlines has a fifty-two week low of $34.36 and a fifty-two week high of $56.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.30 and a 200-day moving average of $42.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $23.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.00.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV - Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The airline reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.69 billion. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 4.71%. Southwest Airlines's quarterly revenue was up 67.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.35) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southwest Airlines will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LUV. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research note on Friday, April 29th. Raymond James raised shares of Southwest Airlines from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $57.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 23rd. Susquehanna Bancshares raised shares of Southwest Airlines from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $58.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 23rd. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.06.
Insider Activity at Southwest Airlines
In other news, Director John T. Montford sold 2,300 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction on Friday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.70, for a total transaction of $105,110.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,064,627.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.