Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Downgraded to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on DAL. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped 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. Barclays reduced their target price 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. UBS Group cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday. Citigroup cut their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.63.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $35.80 on Tuesday. Delta Air Lines has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $23.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.92.

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

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 474 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 414.4% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 535 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.