Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Sells $1,007,280.00 in Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.96, for a total value of $1,007,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 97,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,456,379.80. This represents a 15.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE DAL traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $56.34. The stock had a trading volume of 7,933,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,882,753. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $50.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.62. The firm has a market cap of $36.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.49. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15,507,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Delta Air Lines's payout ratio is 10.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DAL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $67.00 price objective on Delta Air Lines and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.21.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,174 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 176,560 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $10,682,000 after acquiring an additional 7,504 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 9,438 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at about $718,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 79,449 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $4,807,000 after purchasing an additional 20,371 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is 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.