Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Short Interest Update

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 35,190,000 shares, an increase of 15.4% from the October 31st total of 30,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DAL. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.83.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.56. The stock had a trading volume of 5,335,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,288,335. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $57.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.64. Delta Air Lines has a 1 year low of $36.34 and a 1 year high of $66.25. The company has a market cap of $40.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $15.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.33%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total value of $173,128.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 108,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,499,635.40. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,197,608.72. This trade represents a 52.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,240 shares of company stock valued at $8,044,893. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $281,206,000. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the third quarter valued at approximately $189,296,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the second quarter valued at approximately $60,217,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 12.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $471,330,000 after buying an additional 1,105,674 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,414,074,000 after acquiring an additional 749,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

Delta Air Lines, Inc provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Airline and Refinery. Its domestic network centered on core hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Salt Lake City, as well as coastal hub positions in Boston, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, and Seattle; and international network centered on hubs and market presence in Amsterdam, Bogota, Lima, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Sao Paulo, Seoul-Incheon, and Tokyo.