Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Trading 8.1% Higher – Here’s Why

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)’s stock price shot up 8.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $38.98 and last traded at $38.79. Approximately 6,351,706 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 9,259,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on DAL shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Monday. Citigroup decreased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.63.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $54.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a PE ratio of 7.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,479,212.12. This represents a 33.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,455.04. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,036,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after purchasing an additional 416,338 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,593,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 562.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 11,260 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $681,000 after buying an additional 9,559 shares during the period. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 23,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after buying an additional 4,567 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.