Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Upgraded by UBS Group to Buy Rating

UBS Group upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $66.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $46.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on DAL. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.08.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Shares of DAL opened at $51.15 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.17. Delta Air Lines has a 52-week low of $34.74 and a 52-week high of $69.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $12.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.85 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.64%.

Institutional Trading of Delta Air Lines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Delta Air Lines during the fourth quarter valued at $328,398,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 5,224.6% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,336,709 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $189,081,000 after acquiring an additional 4,255,262 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 149.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,963,882 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $246,487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,577,489 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 347.4% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,232,974 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $184,909,000 after acquiring an additional 3,286,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its position in Delta Air Lines by 1,469.9% during the first quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 3,309,020 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $144,273,000 after acquiring an additional 3,098,237 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.93% of the company’s stock.

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.