Analysts Set Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) PT at $76.29

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $76.29.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at about $328,398,000. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $189,296,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $152,342,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 405.3% during 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 during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,955,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $602,327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254,560 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL opened at $46.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $30.31 billion, a PE ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.25. 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 released 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. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

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.