Insider Selling: Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) EVP Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Allison Ausband sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 138,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,205,769. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL stock traded up $3.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.39. The stock had a trading volume of 9,466,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,331,501. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $68.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.41. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.28 and a 1-year high of $79.59. The stock has a market cap of $52.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.03. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th will be paid a $0.1875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 10.93%.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DAL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,174 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter worth about $178,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth about $555,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 102.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,825 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 357,825 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 58,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 5,564 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on DAL shares. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.20 to $79.30 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.89.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

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.