Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) EVP Sells $737,960.00 in Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Allison Ausband sold 9,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $737,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 138,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,552,904. This represents a 6.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

NYSE DAL traded up $3.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $79.39. The company had a trading volume of 9,466,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,331,501. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.28 and a 52 week high of $79.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.25.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 10.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.20 to $79.30 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.89.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,211,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,680,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012,265 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,163,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,607,557,000 after acquiring an additional 165,729 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,413,841 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,215,766,000 after acquiring an additional 202,865 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 137.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $958,538,000 after acquiring an additional 7,994,004 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,310,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $854,370,000 after acquiring an additional 56,455 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.