Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on DAL. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price target (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Dbs Bank cut shares of Delta Air Lines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Raymond James decreased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.20.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:DAL opened at $37.21 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.15. 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 has a 52 week low of $34.74 and a 52 week high of $69.98.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following 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 at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $2,467,312.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,478.21. The trade was a 41.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at about $328,398,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the 4th quarter worth approximately $152,342,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 29.3% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 29,764,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,800,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,932 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.