Traders Buy High Volume of Delta Air Lines Put Options (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 178,849 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 267% compared to the average daily volume of 48,779 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DAL. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 414.4% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 535 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $46.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $37.29 and a 52 week high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.34 and a 200-day moving average of $57.84.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

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.