Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Director Sells $2,885,032.60 in Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Director David Dewalt sold 31,756 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.85, for a total value of $2,885,032.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,031,224.30. The trade was a 58.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of DAL traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $93.13. 5,025,014 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,359,144. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $85.87 and a 200-day moving average of $74.47. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $52.88 and a one year high of $95.68. The firm has a market cap of $61.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 9th. The transportation company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.07. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The company had revenue of $17.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $0.215 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,994,004 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $471,532,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 29.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,270,241 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $815,726,000 after acquiring an additional 2,773,945 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 1,579.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,673,400 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $185,534,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,155,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $426,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890,521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. HSBC lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.20 to $79.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial cut Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Delta Air Lines from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.40.

About Delta Air Lines

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.