Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.29.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded Delta Air Lines from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on 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, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE DAL opened at $46.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. 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 current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.21 and its 200-day moving average is $57.99.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for 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 business posted $1.28 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 11.26%.

Insider Transactions at Delta Air Lines

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total transaction of $554,568.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 12.9% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 169,056 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,587,000 after buying an additional 19,350 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 0.7% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 478,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $24,323,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth approximately $453,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 8.4% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 56,926 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,891,000 after buying an additional 4,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 15.0% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 11,956 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 1,559 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.