Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.29.

A number of brokerages recently commented on DAL. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $48.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Delta Air Lines has a twelve month low of $37.29 and a twelve month high of $69.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.34.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,455.04. The trade was a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth about $2,036,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after purchasing an additional 416,338 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at approximately $189,296,000. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,693,000. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,593,000. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Delta Air Lines

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.