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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

DAL has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL stock opened at $68.14 on Wednesday. Delta Air Lines has a one year low of $37.29 and a one year 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.36.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.61% and a return on equity of 30.43%. 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 prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Delta Air Lines’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at $1,304,291.12. This represents a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold 124,863 shares of company stock worth $8,649,150 in the last ninety days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,644,000 after buying an additional 13,802 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 143.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,876,000 after buying an additional 33,378 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,888,000 after buying an additional 43,000 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter worth about $2,036,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after buying an additional 24,249 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.