Bank of America Cuts Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target to $56.00

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price target decreased by Bank of America from $65.00 to $56.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

DAL has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price target (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped 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 report on Tuesday, March 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.49.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

NYSE:DAL opened at $37.13 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.14. The firm has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.97, a PEG 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 has a one year low of $34.74 and a one year high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced 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. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

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 stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after purchasing an additional 456,465 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,800,754,000 after buying an additional 1,922,932 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $968,234,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $918,419,000 after buying an additional 46,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $670,994,000 after acquiring an additional 92,208 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is 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.