Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Issues Q3 Earnings Guidance

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) updated its third quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.70-2.00 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $2.04. The company issued revenue guidance of +2-4% yr/yr to ~$14.84-15.13 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $15.36 billion. Delta Air Lines also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 6.000-7.000 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DAL. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group started coverage on Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a buy rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $60.36.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $43.62 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $49.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $30.60 and a fifty-two week high of $53.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.35.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 11th. The transportation company reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.37 by ($0.01). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 37.64%. The company had revenue of $15.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 5.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 4,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.30, for a total transaction of $253,445.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 112,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,879,618.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Delta Air Lines news, President Glen W. Hauenstein sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.05, for a total value of $4,905,000.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 217,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,672,495.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 4,846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.30, for a total transaction of $253,445.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 112,421 shares in the company, valued at $5,879,618.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,919 shares of company stock valued at $8,834,653 in the last quarter. 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.