Insider Selling: Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Sells 17,970 Shares of Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $1,241,367.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 35,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,479,212.12. This trade represents a 33.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE DAL traded up $0.22 on Friday, hitting $68.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,310,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,222,209. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.29 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The firm has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.60.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.43%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on DAL shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.22.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 5.4% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,802 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,876,000 after buying an additional 33,378 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 43,000 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,036,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 22.8% during the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after acquiring an additional 24,249 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.