Stock Update (NYSE:DAL): United, Delta seek dismissal of antitrust lawsuit over Newark slots

[Reuters] – United Continental Holdings Inc and Delta Air Lines Inc asked a federal judge to dismiss a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to stop United from expanding its large presence at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. The Justice Department in November challenged Delta’s agreement to lease 24 Newark takeoff and landing slots to United, in exchange for United’s agreement to lease 30 slots to Delta at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Read more on this. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) , with a current value of $35.34B, opened this morning at $47.50. Looking at today’s trading action, the company’s one day range from $44.54 to $47.50 and has traded between $34.61 and $52.77 over the past 12 months. DAL shares are currently priced at 10.12x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 9.21x earnings multiple for the same period. The company pays shareholders $0.54 per share annually in dividends, yielding 1.16%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 14 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $1.19 per share, which would be $0.41 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.00 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $4.64, which would be a $1.33 better than last year. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $9.61 Billion. If reported, that would be a 0.41% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Deutsche Bank upgraded DAL from Hold to Buy (Sep 1, 2015). Previously, Wolfe Research upgraded DAL from Peer Perform to Outperform. The average price target for DAL shares by the analysts covering the stock is $66.54, which is 40.08% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:DAL) Similar Articles: Company Update: Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) – Delta increases service between New York-JFK and Tel Aviv Stock Update: Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) – New Routes, More Choice Across the Atlantic with Delta and Virgin Atlantic Stock Update: Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) – Brazil regulator approves Delta Air Lines, Gol deal