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

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 63,584 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 37% compared to the typical daily volume of 46,392 call options.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,455.04. This trade represents a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the third quarter worth about $281,206,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $328,398,000. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the third quarter worth about $189,296,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $152,342,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 405.3% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,054,285 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $184,784,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,874 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on DAL shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 7.7 %

NYSE DAL traded down $4.08 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $49.20. The company had a trading volume of 11,777,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,546,564. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.68 and its 200 day moving average is $57.88. The company has a market capitalization of $31.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 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.