Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

DAL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup decreased their price objective 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. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.29.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

Delta Air Lines stock opened at $46.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.18. The company has a market capitalization of $29.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.34. Delta Air Lines has a 12-month low of $37.29 and a 12-month high of $69.98.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The transportation company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.20 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Delta Air Lines Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Delta Air Lines’s payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, SVP William C. Carroll sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.02, for a total value of $554,568.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,304,291.12. This trade represents a 29.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Edward H. Bastian sold 91,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.85, for a total value of $6,405,943.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 439,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,721,357.15. This represents a 17.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,886 shares of company stock valued at $11,116,463 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DAL. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in Delta Air Lines by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 56,926 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,891,000 after buying an additional 4,413 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 41.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 313,226 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $15,909,000 after acquiring an additional 92,273 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 13.4% during the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,193 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 3,093 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 11.1% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,398 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the third quarter worth approximately $201,000. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.