Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Given Consensus Rating of "Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Delta Air Lines has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from nineteen rating firms, with an average target price of $66.21 over the next twelve months.
• The company reported $2.10 earnings per share for its last quarter, exceeding estimates, though its revenue fell short of expectations at $15.51 billion.
• Delta recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.1875 per share, marking a positive change from the previous $0.15 dividend.

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.2056.

DAL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, July 11th. Bernstein Bank upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL stock opened at $60.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $39.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.51. Delta Air Lines has a 12-month low of $34.74 and a 12-month high of $69.98. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $57.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.62.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The transportation company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 24.86% and a net margin of 7.24%.The business's quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.1875 per share. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,003,684.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 191,442 shares in the company, valued at $10,948,567.98. This represents a 8.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $151,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,017,971.50. This represents a 6.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 136,473 shares of company stock worth $7,663,496. Insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. L1 Capital Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 2nd quarter worth $519,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 38.6% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 213,025 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $10,458,000 after purchasing an additional 59,313 shares in the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 21.8% during the second quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,883 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 39.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,407,585 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $118,409,000 after acquiring an additional 685,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silverlake Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Delta Air Lines by 12.8% during the second quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,556 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.