Bank of America Lowers Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target to $56.00

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Bank of America from $65.00 to $56.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 50.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.49.

Delta Air Lines Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $37.13 on Thursday. Delta Air Lines has a 12-month low of $34.74 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The company has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a PE ratio of 6.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.32 and a 200 day moving average of $58.06. 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 released its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total transaction of $6,405,943.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $2,467,312.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 52,789 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,478.21. This represents a 41.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 36,571 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 5,046 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 6.0% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 54,542 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,770,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 2,742.4% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 31,096 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 30,002 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines during the third quarter worth $272,000. Finally, RBF Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. RBF Capital LLC now owns 160,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,126,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.