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

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price objective cut by stock analysts at Bank of America from $65.00 to $56.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 50.81% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group cut 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 report on Tuesday, March 11th. Susquehanna upped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.49.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 4.1 %

NYSE DAL opened at $37.13 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines has a one year low of $34.74 and a one year high of $69.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.06. 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 (NYSE:DAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.09. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the company’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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % 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 in the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $328,398,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter worth about $152,342,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 405.3% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 2,449,874 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $602,327,000 after buying an additional 2,254,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in shares of 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 worth $1,800,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,932 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.