Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Updates Q2 Earnings Guidance

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $2.20-2.50 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22. The company issued revenue guidance of +5-7% yr/yr to ~$15.3-15.6 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $15.41 billion. Delta Air Lines also updated its FY24 guidance to $6.00-7.00 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TheStreet upgraded Delta Air Lines from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group initiated 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. StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE:DAL opened at $46.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.44 and a 200-day moving average of $39.35. Delta Air Lines has a 1 year low of $30.60 and a 1 year high of $49.81.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction 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 approximately $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 1st quarter worth about $217,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 41.8% in the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,838 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 7,616 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 1st quarter valued at about $243,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,918 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 29,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after buying an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.