Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target Cut to $60.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price objective lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $83.00 to $60.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on DAL. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.49.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 4.1 %

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $37.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.06. Delta Air Lines has a twelve month low of $34.74 and a twelve month high of $69.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

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. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

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 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 6,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total transaction of $447,271.02. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,016 shares in the company, valued at $660,455.04. This trade represents a 40.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. The trade was a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock worth $11,116,463 over the last three months. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,410,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,380,820,000 after purchasing an additional 456,465 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,800,754,000 after buying an additional 1,922,932 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,912,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $968,234,000 after buying an additional 410,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,180,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $918,419,000 after acquiring an additional 46,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,090,209 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $670,994,000 after acquiring an additional 92,208 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.