Insider Selling: Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) EVP Sells 35,000 Shares

Key Points

• Delta EVP Alain Bellemare sold 35,000 shares at an average price of $92.72, generating $3.25 million and reducing his direct stake by 26.92% to 95,025 shares. He had also sold shares in May.
• Delta shares rose 0.4% to $93.13, near their 52-week high of $95.68, while the company reported quarterly EPS and revenue above analyst expectations.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with 23 Buy ratings and two Holds, an average price target of $100.40, and Delta raising its quarterly dividend to $0.215 per share.

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) EVP Alain Bellemare sold 35,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.72, for a total transaction of $3,245,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 95,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,810,718. The trade was a 26.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Alain Bellemare also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 27th, Alain Bellemare sold 25,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.44, for a total value of $2,036,000.00.
• On Thursday, May 7th, Alain Bellemare sold 20,621 shares of Delta Air Lines stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.75, for a total value of $1,500,177.75.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $93.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,025,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,359,144. The stock has a market cap of $61.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.42. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.88 and a twelve month high of $95.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $85.87 and a 200-day moving average of $74.47.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 5.79%.The firm had revenue of $17.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $0.215 dividend. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Delta Air Lines's payout ratio is presently 14.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DAL has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. HSBC cut their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.20 to $79.30 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Seaport Research Partners raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $75.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $100.40.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DAL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,174 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter worth $178,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 2nd quarter worth about $555,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 102.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,825 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 357,825 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 58,129 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 5,564 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

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.

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