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

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.60-1.85 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS 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

Shares of DAL stock opened at $63.64 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.27 and a 200 day moving average of $48.98. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $35.46 and a 52 week high of $66.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted 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). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The company had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on DAL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas raised Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $72.75.

Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $1,305,148.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,197,608.72. This represents a 52.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total transaction of $3,830,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $24,775,004.27. This trade represents a 13.39 % 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 worth $8,044,893 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.96% 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.