Citigroup Lowers Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target to $72.00

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price target cut by Citigroup from $80.00 to $72.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lowered 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. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.29.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of DAL opened at $45.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.14. 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 company has a market capitalization of $29.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. Delta Air Lines’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total transaction of $447,271.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DAL. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $281,206,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $328,398,000. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 3rd quarter valued at about $189,296,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $152,342,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 405.3% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,054,285 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $184,784,000 after purchasing an additional 2,449,874 shares in 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.