Investors Buy High Volume of Delta Air Lines Call Options (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 74,406 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 64% compared to the average daily volume of 45,462 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $173,128.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 108,990 shares in the company, valued at $5,499,635.40. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were 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 approximately $6,739,564.86. This trade represents a 13.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 1.8 %

DAL stock opened at $61.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. Delta Air Lines has a 1-year low of $36.34 and a 1-year high of $67.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS 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 business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 6.08 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.06.

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.