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

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.29.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of DAL stock opened at $48.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, 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. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $37.29 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.27.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,478.21. This trade represents a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $322,000. CWC Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 15,317 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $927,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. 111 Capital acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $660,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 89,920 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,440,000 after acquiring an additional 5,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at $252,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.