Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Receives $75.83 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $75.83.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DAL shares. Susquehanna raised their price target on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Citigroup increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Delta Air Lines to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 3,431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total value of $173,128.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 108,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,499,635.40. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP William C. Carroll sold 21,530 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $1,305,148.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,197,608.72. The trade was a 52.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,240 shares of company stock worth $8,044,893 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,841,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,414,074,000 after acquiring an additional 749,099 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,501,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $789,452,000 after buying an additional 416,338 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 12.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,933,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $471,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,674 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth approximately $281,206,000. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $189,296,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Delta Air Lines stock opened at $60.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $39.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.34. Delta Air Lines has a 1 year low of $36.34 and a 1 year high of $67.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.97 and a 200 day moving average of $50.45.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 10th. The transportation company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $15.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.65 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 29.93% and a net margin of 7.71%. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.33%.

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.