Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Short Interest Update

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 28,690,000 shares, a decrease of 12.8% from the September 30th total of 32,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,790,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $173,128.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 108,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,499,635.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $173,128.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 108,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,499,635.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 121,961 shares in the company, valued at $6,739,564.86. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 90,921 shares of company stock valued at $5,080,586. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 402,650 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $19,275,000 after acquiring an additional 6,915 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,648 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 22.6% during the first quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 10,596 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 714.1% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 112,048 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,364,000 after buying an additional 98,285 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on DAL shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas raised Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $65.40.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL stock traded up $1.96 on Tuesday, hitting $57.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,515,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,452,994. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $30.76 and a fifty-two week high of $57.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $47.62 and its 200-day moving average is $47.49. The company has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a PE ratio of 7.97, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.35.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 36.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.63%.

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.