Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,690,000 shares, a growth of 9.9% from the March 15th total of 16,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $46.55 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $43.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.52. Delta Air Lines has a 52-week low of $30.60 and a 52-week high of $49.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $30.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.43.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $13.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 5.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the topic of several analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $59.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 428,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,807,705.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,234,306 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,700,032,000 after buying an additional 1,267,578 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $756,110,000 after purchasing an additional 579,727 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,936,699 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $842,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,053 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,981,124 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $602,691,000 after purchasing an additional 79,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $459,144,000 after purchasing an additional 351,286 shares during the last quarter. 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.