Edward Bastian Sells 206,510 Shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) CEO Edward Bastian sold 206,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.80, for a total transaction of $19,164,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,363,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,527,974.40. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

NYSE DAL traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $93.13. 5,025,014 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,359,144. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.47. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.88 and a 1 year high of $95.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $61.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.31.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 9th. The transportation company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $17.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.43 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 5.79%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.215 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 9th. This is an increase from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,211,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,680,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012,265 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,163,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,607,557,000 after purchasing an additional 165,729 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,413,841 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,215,766,000 after purchasing an additional 202,865 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 137.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $958,538,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,310,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $854,370,000 after purchasing an additional 56,455 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DAL has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $85.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $80.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.40.

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.