John Laughter Sells 23,323 Shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP John Laughter sold 23,323 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.33, for a total transaction of $1,453,722.59. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 81,109 shares in the company, valued at $5,055,523.97. This trade represents a 22.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL opened at $60.93 on Friday. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a one year low of $34.74 and a one year high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.50.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 15th. The transportation company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 23.83%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 16th will be issued a $0.1875 dividend. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 16th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the second quarter worth $386,364,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 5,224.6% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,336,709 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $189,081,000 after purchasing an additional 4,255,262 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 149.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,963,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $246,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,577,489 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 347.4% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,232,974 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $184,909,000 after acquiring an additional 3,286,741 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1,469.9% during the first quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 3,309,020 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $144,273,000 after acquiring an additional 3,098,237 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DAL. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Seaport Global Securities increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $69.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $69.20 to $73.70 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.53.

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.