Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Delta Air Lines Put Options (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 178,849 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 267% compared to the average volume of 48,779 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Susquehanna upped 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. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.60.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of DAL traded down $1.48 on Thursday, reaching $43.83. 16,134,974 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,706,613. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.90. Delta Air Lines has a 12 month low of $37.29 and a 12 month high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $660,455.04. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after purchasing an additional 33,378 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth $2,036,000. New Millennium Group LLC raised its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 314.0% during the third quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 36,460 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 27,654 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $789,452,000 after purchasing an additional 416,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $189,296,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.