Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the fourteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $71.22.

Several brokerages have issued reports on DAL. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $64.07 on Friday. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $35.28 and a 52 week high of $66.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $52.62 and its 200-day moving average is $48.62. The firm has a market cap of $41.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.39.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 29.93%. The firm had revenue of $15.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total value of $1,077,017.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 121,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,739,564.86. The trade was a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 68,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.33, for a total value of $3,830,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,775,004.27. This represents a 13.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 56.5% during the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 57,725 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,932,000 after purchasing an additional 20,846 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 71,389 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,626,000 after acquiring an additional 11,094 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 19,541 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $992,000 after acquiring an additional 2,401 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 34,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,767,000 after acquiring an additional 8,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 375,503 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $19,072,000 after acquiring an additional 23,205 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

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.