Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Wednesday, April 8.

Analysts expect the company to report earnings of 62 cents per share. That's up from 46 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Delta Air's quarterly revenue is $14.8 billion (it reported $14.04 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

Shares of airline companies traded lower on Thursday amid oil price gains after President Trump indicated that the U.S. would continue strikes against Iran over the next few weeks with no set timeline for ending the conflict.

With the recent buzz around Delta Air Lines, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company's dividends too. As of now, Delta Air has an annual dividend yield of 1.13%, which is a quarterly dividend amount of 18.75 cents per share (75 cents a year).

To figure out how to earn $500 monthly from Delta Air Lines, we start with the yearly target of $6,000 ($500 x 12 months).

Next, we take this amount and divide it by DAL's $0.75 dividend: $6,000 / $0.75 = 8,000 shares.

So, an investor would need to own approximately $532,880 worth of Delta Air Lines, or 8,000 shares to generate a monthly dividend income of $500.

Assuming a more conservative goal of $100 monthly ($1,200 annually), we do the same calculation: $1,200 / $0.75 = 1,600 shares, or $106,576 to generate a monthly dividend income of $100.

Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time.

The dividend yield is calculated by dividing the annual dividend payment by the current stock price. As the stock price changes, the dividend yield will also change.

For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and its current price is $50, its dividend yield would be 4%. However, if the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield would decrease to 3.33% ($2/$60).

Conversely, if the stock price decreases to $40, the dividend yield would increase to 5% ($2/$40).

Further, the dividend payment itself can also change over time, which can also impact the dividend yield. If a company increases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will increase even if the stock price remains the same. Similarly, if a company decreases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will decrease.

DAL Price Action: Shares of Delta Air Lines fell by 1.5% to trade at $66.61 on Thursday.

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