【uw track and field recruiting standards】Have Insiders Been Selling Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Shares?

It is uw track and field recruiting standardsnot uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we’d be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So we’ll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

(

NYSE:DAL

).

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

It’s quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Colombia University

study

found that ‘insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers’.

Check out our latest analysis for Delta Air Lines

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Delta Air Lines

CEO & Director Edward Bastian made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.9m worth of shares at a price of US$55.00 each. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$50.18. While their view may have changed since the sale, this is not a particularly positive fact. We usually pause to reflect on the potential that a stock has a high valuation, if insiders have been selling at around the current price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$1.6m for 31.35k shares. On the other hand they divested 192.03k shares, for US$10m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Delta Air Lines shares, than buying. The average sell price was around US$54.32. It’s not particularly great to see insiders were selling shares around current prices. But we don’t put too much weight on the insider selling, since sellers could have personal reasons. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

NYSE:DAL Insider Trading January 1st 19

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do

not

want to miss this

free

list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insiders at Delta Air Lines Have Bought Stock Recently

It’s good to see that Delta Air Lines insiders have made notable investments in the company’s shares. Specifically, George Mattson bought US$662k worth of shares in that time, and we didn’t record any sales whatsoever. This is a positive in our book as it implies some confidence.

Story continues

Insider Ownership of Delta Air Lines

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Delta Air Lines insiders own about US$94m worth of shares (which is 0.3% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Delta Air Lines Insiders?

It is good to see recent insider purchase. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. While recent transactions indicate confidence in Delta Air Lines, insiders don’t own enough of the company to overcome our cautiousness about the longer term transactions. In short they are likely aligned with shareholders. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this

free

report showing analyst forecasts for its future

.

But note:

Delta Air Lines may not be the best stock to buy

. So take a peek at this

free

list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at

[email protected]

.

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