Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

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

DAL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.22.

Delta Air Lines Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE DAL opened at $66.35 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $37.29 and a 52 week high of $69.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $42.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.36.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last issued its 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. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.43% and a net margin of 5.61%. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares in the company, valued at $30,721,357.15. This trade represents 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 valued at $11,116,463 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5.4% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 268,636 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $13,644,000 after buying an additional 13,802 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 143.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 56,611 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,876,000 after purchasing an additional 33,378 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 32.6% during the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 175,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 43,000 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,036,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 22.8% during the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 130,608 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 24,249 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.