Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) posted its earnings results on Friday. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09, RTT News reports. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 9.1 %

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $66.99 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.87. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $36.34 and a 52 week high of $68.99. The company has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on DAL shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.06.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 121,961 shares in the company, valued at $6,739,564.86. The trade was a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,197,608.72. This represents a 52.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 136,809 shares of company stock valued at $7,871,765. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.