Delta Air Lines Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 112,400 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 138% compared to the typical volume of 47,291 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-one have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.08.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL stock traded down $0.43 during trading on Monday, hitting $66.67. 2,633,202 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,895,688. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $34.74 and a 52 week high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 15th. The transportation company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 23.83%. As a group, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 16th were given a $0.1875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.56%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 14,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.25, for a total value of $858,112.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,730. This represents a 46.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John E. Laughter sold 23,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.33, for a total transaction of $1,453,722.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 81,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,055,523.97. The trade was a 22.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,572,577 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,667,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648,071 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,059,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,134,083,000 after buying an additional 581,421 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,757,932 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $822,127,000 after buying an additional 527,570 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the second quarter worth approximately $386,364,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.3% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,661,911 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $434,813,000 after buying an additional 1,447,058 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

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.