Edward Bastian Sells 100,000 Shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Stock

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) CEO Edward Bastian sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.26, for a total transaction of $7,026,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,363,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,795,856.48. The trade was a 6.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 6.9%

Shares of NYSE:DAL traded down $4.85 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,362,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,389,014. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $76.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $42.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.37.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 13th. The transportation company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.02. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 20.96% and a net margin of 7.90%.The firm had revenue of $14.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.85 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Delta Air Lines has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.900 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 6.500-7.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This represents a $0.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.78%.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 137.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $958,538,000 after buying an additional 7,994,004 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $471,532,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 1,579.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,673,400 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $185,534,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514,193 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,155,776 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $426,441,000 after buying an additional 1,890,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,496,296 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $659,043,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834,385 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAL has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $87.00 target price on Delta Air Lines in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.47.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.