Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Receives Average Rating of "Buy" from Brokerages

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.21.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DAL shares. Bernstein Bank upped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Delta Air Lines from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

In other news, EVP Steven M. Sear sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.96, for a total value of $1,007,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 97,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,456,379.80. The trade was a 15.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 45,423 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.56, for a total transaction of $2,523,701.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,731 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,318,974.36. The trade was a 25.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 133,973 shares of company stock worth $7,511,746. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DAL. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 161,395 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $7,037,000 after acquiring an additional 9,034 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 152.3% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,567 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 7,586 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Delta Air Lines by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 39,374 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 21.2% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 145,240 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $6,332,000 after acquiring an additional 25,406 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,585 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $418,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Delta Air Lines Price Performance

DAL traded up $0.13 on Thursday, hitting $54.84. 6,810,019 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,953,351. Delta Air Lines has a fifty-two week low of $34.74 and a fifty-two week high of $69.98. 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 50-day moving average price of $50.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.35. The stock has a market cap of $35.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.49.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $15,507,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.16 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 7.24% and a return on equity of 24.86%. Delta Air Lines's quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.1875 dividend. This is a positive change from Delta Air Lines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $0.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.70%.

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.