Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Issues Q1 Earnings Guidance

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) updated its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided EPS guidance of $0.30-0.50 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $0.82. The company issued revenue guidance of $12.9-13.1 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $13.52 billion.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on DAL shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL traded down $3.00 on Monday, hitting $50.28. 19,162,535 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,574,848. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $32.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $63.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. Delta Air Lines’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 17,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $1,241,367.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,889 shares in the company, valued at $2,479,212.12. This trade represents a 33.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Delta Air Lines stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,174 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.