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

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.40.

DAL has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Delta Air Lines from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America increased their target price on Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Insider Activity

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $173,128.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 108,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,499,635.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 19,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.26, for a total transaction of $1,077,017.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 121,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,739,564.86. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $173,128.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 108,990 shares in the company, valued at $5,499,635.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,217,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 96.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,487,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $119,057,000 after buying an additional 1,219,074 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $471,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,674 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 159.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 588,436 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,915,000 after purchasing an additional 361,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 98.5% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 667,373 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $31,660,000 after buying an additional 331,197 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $55.10 on Tuesday. Delta Air Lines has a 52-week low of $30.60 and a 52-week high of $56.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $15.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 36.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.03 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.63%.

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.