Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 63,584 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 37% compared to the typical daily volume of 46,392 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DAL. TD Cowen lifted 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. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL stock traded down $4.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $49.20. The company had a trading volume of 11,777,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,546,564. Delta Air Lines has a 1-year low of $37.29 and a 1-year high of $69.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $63.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.88. The firm has a market cap of $31.81 billion, a PE ratio of 9.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In related news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. This trade represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 over the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $952,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $312,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,733,000. Brooklyn FI LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $321,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other 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.