Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.08.

DAL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $80.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 123.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,392 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $568,000 after buying an additional 5,194 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 894,143 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $54,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 33,207 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,009,000 after purchasing an additional 11,097 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 44.7% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 30,879 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 9,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestline Management LP lifted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 147.6% during the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 124,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,509,000 after purchasing an additional 73,983 shares in the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Delta Air Lines Trading Up 1.2%

DAL opened at $49.09 on Wednesday. Delta Air Lines has a twelve month low of $34.74 and a twelve month high of $69.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.45 and a 200-day moving average of $55.19. The stock has a market cap of $32.05 billion, a PE ratio of 9.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.46.

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). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The firm had revenue of $12.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Delta Air Lines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.64%.

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.