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

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The transportation company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09, RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 41.89% and a net margin of 8.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $46.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $30.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $30.60 and a 52 week high of $49.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.35.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 5.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Thursday. UBS Group assumed coverage on Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $58.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total value of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,700,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267,578 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,652,643 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $756,110,000 after acquiring an additional 579,727 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.7% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,168,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $459,144,000 after acquiring an additional 351,286 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,995,179 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $160,726,000 after acquiring an additional 19,176 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,396,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $129,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504,544 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.