Raymond James Lowers Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target to $62.00

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price objective cut by Raymond James from $80.00 to $62.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a strong-buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on DAL. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup lowered 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 research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.49.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $37.13 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Delta Air Lines has a 1 year low of $34.74 and a 1 year high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This trade represents a 41.87 % 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, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This trade represents a 17.25 % 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 worth $11,116,463 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DAL. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 2,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,555 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 5,088 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,298 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $865,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.