Short Interest in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Increases By 6.3%

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,500,000 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the October 15th total of 28,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at $1,197,608.72. The trade was a 52.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Allison C. Ausband sold 7,510 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.62, for a total value of $470,276.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,897 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,688,130.14. The trade was a 11.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,679 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,645 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 1,412 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,357 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,198 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DAL traded up $1.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.49. The company had a trading volume of 5,263,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,366,834. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $35.46 and a 52 week high of $66.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $41.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. The business's 50-day moving average is $53.45 and its 200 day moving average is $48.78.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The firm had revenue of $15.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines's payout ratio is 8.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DAL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. BNP Paribas raised Delta Air Lines to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $71.22.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.