Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Delta Air Lines from a "strong sell" to a "hold", while the analyst consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $79.26.
• Delta beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.64 versus $0.61 expected and revenue of $14.20 billion, up 9.4% year-over-year.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently — including EVP Alain Bellemare and CEO Edward Bastian — with 353,611 shares sold (~$25.18 million) over the last 90 days and insiders now owning 0.88% of the stock.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Dbs Bank upgraded Delta Air Lines to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Seaport Research Partners boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.26.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $69.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.31. Delta Air Lines has a 12-month low of $38.80 and a 12-month high of $76.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 8th. The transportation company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 6.87%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Alain Bellemare sold 35,212 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.20, for a total value of $2,647,942.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 138,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,390,835.20. The trade was a 20.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 100,000 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.26, for a total value of $7,026,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,363,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at $95,795,856.48. The trade was a 6.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 353,611 shares of company stock valued at $25,182,798 over the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,211,101 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,680,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012,265 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,163,644 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,607,557,000 after purchasing an additional 165,729 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,413,841 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,215,766,000 after purchasing an additional 202,865 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 137.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,811,787 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $958,538,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994,004 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,310,804 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $854,370,000 after purchasing an additional 56,455 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.93% of the company's stock.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is a major U.S.-based global airline that provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation, aircraft maintenance and repair services, and related travel products. Its operations include mainline domestic and international passenger services, a branded regional network operating under the Delta Connection name, dedicated air cargo carriage, and in-house maintenance, repair and overhaul through Delta TechOps. Delta offers a range of cabin products for different customer segments, including premium business-class service on long-haul routes and tiered economy offerings on domestic and international flights, and it markets customer loyalty benefits through the SkyMiles frequent-flyer program.

The carrier operates a mixed fleet of narrow- and wide-body aircraft from multiple U.S.

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