Delta Air Lines Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 86,564 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 50% compared to the average daily volume of 57,809 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at $2,036,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at $3,593,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 562.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 11,260 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $681,000 after acquiring an additional 9,559 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 23,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth about $244,000. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.06.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $44.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $29.32 billion, a PE ratio of 8.42, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $44.67 and a 200 day moving average of $56.55. 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 has a 12 month low of $34.74 and a 12 month high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is 10.64%.

About Delta Air Lines

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.