Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, TD Cowen Analyst Says

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price objective upped by TD Cowen from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $46.00 price target (down previously from $85.00) on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.77.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE DAL opened at $39.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.94 and a 200 day moving average of $57.75. 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 has a twelve month low of $34.74 and a twelve month high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Rahul D. Samant sold 38,023 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value 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 $1,304,291.12. The trade was a 29.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at $2,036,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $789,452,000 after buying an additional 416,338 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the fourth quarter valued at $3,593,000. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 562.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 11,260 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 9,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 23,657 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567 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.