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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DAL shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.75.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $63.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.15. The company has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.33. Delta Air Lines has a 1-year low of $35.46 and a 1-year high of $66.25.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $173,128.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 108,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,499,635.40. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 121,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,739,564.86. The trade was a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893 in the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.