Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Alain Bellemare Sells 45,423 Shares of Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) EVP Alain Bellemare sold 45,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.56, for a total transaction of $2,523,701.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 131,731 shares in the company, valued at $7,318,974.36. This trade represents a 25.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 2.7%

NYSE DAL opened at $58.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $37.98 billion, a PE ratio of 8.43, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.38. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.74 and a twelve month high of $69.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.58.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $15,507,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.24% and a return on equity of 24.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $60.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.62.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 52.5% during the second quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 26,788 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,317,000 after buying an additional 9,217 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 63.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,666 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $770,000 after buying an additional 6,081 shares in the last quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the second quarter worth approximately $223,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.9% in the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 26,435 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Management Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 14.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 8,766 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares in the last quarter. 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.