TD Cowen Issues Positive Forecast for Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Stock Price

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price target hoisted by TD Cowen from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $77.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.06.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL opened at $40.88 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.43 billion, a PE ratio of 7.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors 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 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 in the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth $2,036,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after buying an additional 416,338 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,593,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 562.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 11,260 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $681,000 after buying an additional 9,559 shares during the period. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 23,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after buying an additional 4,567 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.