Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) CEO Sells $3,830,440.00 in Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $3,830,440.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $57.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.56. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.76 and a fifty-two week high of $57.37. The company has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

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

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 8.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,377 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,674 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $898,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 419.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 562,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,551,000 after acquiring an additional 453,926 shares during the period. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 35.6% during the third quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 19,090 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 5,012 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on DAL shares. Susquehanna increased their target price 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. BNP Paribas raised shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.40.

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.