Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Releases Q1 Earnings Guidance

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.30-0.50 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.82. The company issued revenue guidance of $12.9-13.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $13.52 billion. Delta Air Lines also updated its Q1 2025 guidance to 0.300-0.500 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.60.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $46.65 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.99. 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 $37.29 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,479,212.12. The trade was a 33.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Delta Air Lines stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 33.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,174 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.