Edward H. Bastian Sells 68,000 Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total value of $3,830,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,775,004.27. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL opened at $58.49 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.76 and a 52-week high of $59.07. The stock has a market cap of $37.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.12, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $48.34 and a 200 day moving average of $47.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 36.02% and a net margin of 7.46%. The company had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas raised Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.40.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,217,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 96.1% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,487,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $119,057,000 after buying an additional 1,219,074 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 12.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $471,330,000 after buying an additional 1,105,674 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 419.5% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 562,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,551,000 after buying an additional 453,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 159.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 588,436 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,915,000 after buying an additional 361,942 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.