Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) EVP Allison Ausband Sells 5,000 Shares

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Allison Ausband sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $367,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 138,854 shares in the company, valued at $10,205,769. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 4.3%

Shares of DAL stock opened at $79.39 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.28 and a 1 year high of $79.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.25.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The business had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 5.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th will be given a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DAL shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Delta Air Lines from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.89.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the first quarter valued at $178,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter valued at $555,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 102.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 7,825 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 357,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 10.6% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 58,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,859,000 after acquiring an additional 5,564 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

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.