Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.60-1.85 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.74. The company issued revenue guidance of +2-4% yr/yr to ~$13.9-14.2 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $14.11 billion.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $63.34 on Friday. Delta Air Lines has a one year low of $35.46 and a one year high of $66.25. The firm has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a PE ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $55.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.15.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DAL shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. BNP Paribas raised shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $72.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $1,305,148.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at $1,197,608.72. The trade was a 52.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,240 shares of company stock valued at $8,044,893 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.96% 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.