Bank of America Raises Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target to $55.00

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price target lifted by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $53.00 to $55.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 17.37% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $59.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

NYSE:DAL opened at $46.86 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.35. The company has a market cap of $30.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Delta Air Lines has a 52 week low of $30.60 and a 52 week high of $49.81.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 10th. The transportation company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 71,840 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.20, for a total transaction of $2,816,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 428,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,807,705.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 220.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,600,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $346,008,000 after buying an additional 5,914,301 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter worth about $60,640,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,936,699 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $842,283,000 after buying an additional 1,689,053 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 145.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,618,627 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $105,347,000 after buying an additional 1,550,770 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Delta Air Lines by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,396,524 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $129,679,000 after buying an additional 1,504,544 shares during the period. 69.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.