Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 28,690,000 shares, a drop 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 days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $65.40.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock traded up $1.96 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.34. 9,515,931 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,452,994. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $47.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.49. The company has a market cap 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 has a twelve month low of $30.76 and a twelve month high of $57.37.

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

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.63%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Senator Investment Group LP grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 90.0% during the 2nd quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 475,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $22,534,000 after buying an additional 225,000 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 50,358 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 714.1% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 112,048 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,364,000 after purchasing an additional 98,285 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the first quarter worth $907,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the first quarter valued at about $1,309,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.