Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders bought 63,123 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 29% compared to the typical volume of 49,048 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on DAL shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total transaction of $447,271.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,455.04. This trade represents a 40.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after acquiring an additional 456,465 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,800,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,932 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $968,234,000 after purchasing an additional 410,648 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $918,419,000 after purchasing an additional 46,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $670,994,000 after buying an additional 92,208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 2.8 %

DAL opened at $42.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $57.98 and its 200 day moving average is $58.36. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

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.