Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $56.49 and last traded at $55.98, with a volume of 1067597 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.12.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on DAL. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.40.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $37.00 billion, a PE ratio of 8.25, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.35.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its 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). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 36.02% and a net margin of 7.46%. The firm had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid 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 is Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 121,961 shares in the company, valued at $6,739,564.86. The trade was 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, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $3,830,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,775,004.27. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total transaction 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 approximately $6,739,564.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 90,921 shares of company stock worth $5,080,586. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Senator Investment Group LP boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 90.0% during the second quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 475,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $22,534,000 after buying an additional 225,000 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 50,358 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 714.1% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 112,048 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,364,000 after acquiring an additional 98,285 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $907,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,309,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

About Delta Air Lines

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.