In the last trading session, 7.03 million shares of the Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) were traded, and its beta was 1.15. Most recently the company’s share price was $29.18, and it changed around -$0.01 or -0.03% from the last close, which brings the market valuation of the company to $17.41B. LUV currently trades at a discount to its 52-week high of $39.53, offering almost -35.47% off that amount. The share price’s 52-week low was $21.91, which indicates that the current value has risen by an impressive 24.91% since then. We note from Southwest Airlines Co’s average daily trading volume that its 10-day average is 7.67 million shares, with the 3-month average coming to 8.37 million.
Southwest Airlines Co stock received a consensus recommendation rating of Buy, based on a mean score of 3.00. If we narrow it down even further, the data shows that 0 out of 19 analysts rate the stock as a Sell; another 7 rate it as Overweight. Among the rest, 3 recommended LUV as a Hold, whereas 9 deemed it a Buy, and 0 rated it as Underweight. Southwest Airlines Co is expected to report earnings per share of -$0.31 for the current quarter.
Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) trade information
Instantly LUV has showed a red trend with a performance of -0.03% at the end of last trading. The performance over the last five days has remained in the green territory. The company’s shares are currently up 1.04% year-to-date, but still up 2.57% over the last five days. On the other hand, Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) is -14.85% down in the 30-day period. We can see from the shorts that 17.69 million shares have been sold at a short interest cover period of 1.99 day(s).
The consensus price target as assigned by Wall Street analysts is $47.63, which translates to bulls needing to increase their stock price by 38.74% from its current value. Analyst projections state that LUV is forecast to be at a low of $28 and a high of $72.
Southwest Airlines Co (LUV) estimates and forecasts
Southwest Airlines Co share prices are performing particularly well compared to other companies within the same industry. As is evident from the statistics, the company’s shares have risen 7.20 percent over the past six months and at a 5.10% annual growth rate that is well above the industry average of -2.50%. Moreover, analysts have decided to roll up on their fiscal year 2024 revenue estimates. The rating firms predict that it will loss -14.80% in revenue this quarter, and will report a decrease of -22.90% in the next quarter. The year-over-year growth rate is expected to be 8.70%, up from the previous year.
Consensus estimates provided by 13 financial analysts predict the company will bring in an average of $6.44 billion in revenue for the current quarter. 13 analysts expect Southwest Airlines Co to make $7.65 billion in revenue for the quarter ending Jun 2024. The company’s sales for the same quarters a year ago were $5.73 billion and $7.04 billion respectively. Analysts predict that the company’s current quarter sales will jump, forecast at 12.50%. Forecasts for the next quarter put sales growth at 8.70%.
Looking at the company’s year-over-year earnings, the past five years showed a negative earnings growth rate of -29.89%. Southwest Airlines Co earnings are expected to increase by 2.95% in 2024, but the outlook is positive 22.46% per year for the next five years.
LUV Dividends
Southwest Airlines Co’s next quarterly earnings report is expected to be released on April 25. The annual dividend yield of the stock is 2.47 percent and its annual dividend per share was 0.72. It is important to note, however, that the 2.47% dividend yield ratio should be regarded as a guide only, as many other factors should be taken into consideration before making any investment decision.
Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV)’s Major holders
Upon looking at major shareholders, it appears that insiders hold 0.42% of Southwest Airlines Co shares, and 81.99% of them are in the hands of institutional investors. The stock currently has a share float of 82.33%. Southwest Airlines Co stock is held by 1,078 institutions, with Vanguard Group Inc being the largest institutional investor. By Jun 29, 2023, it held 11.08% of the shares, which is about 65.99 million shares worth $2.39 billion.
Primecap Management Company, with 8.40% or 50.05 million shares worth $1.81 billion as of Jun 29, 2023, holds the second largest percentage of outstanding shares.
Vanguard/Primecap Fund and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund were the top two Mutual Funds as of Jun 29, 2023. The former held 25.44 million shares worth $921.26 million, making up 4.27% of all outstanding shares. On the other hand, Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund held roughly 18.54 million shares worth around $671.21 million, which represents about 3.11% of the total shares outstanding.
